


How To Not Fuck Up Everything (Idiots)

by JjdoggieS



Series: Watching The Umbrella Academy [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Comic Canon Ships, F/M, Fighting Hargreeves Children, Fix-It, Gen, M/M, Mom Allison, Only In Reference To Show, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Ships are minor - Freeform, Show Canon Ships, Time Travel Fix-It, Time Travel Shenanigans, Watching the Show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:00:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 90,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23324362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JjdoggieS/pseuds/JjdoggieS
Summary: The official members of The Umbrella Academy, as of now, received a box with tapes from 'Reginald' within the first week of returning to 2001. With these tapes, The Umbrella Academy should be able to learn how to stop the apocalypse, fix their sister, and fix their family. That is if they don't completely and utterly fuck this up.A.K.A.Watching The Umbrella Academy
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Allison Hargreeves/Luther Hargreeves, Allison Hargreeves/Patrick, Ben Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Cha-Cha & Hazel (Umbrella Academy), Dave/Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves/Eudora Patch, Diego Hargreeves/Vanya Hargreeves, Hazel/Agnes Rofa, Klaus Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Luther Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy), Vanya Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves/Leonard Peabody
Series: Watching The Umbrella Academy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1854889
Comments: 132
Kudos: 910





	1. This Is Your How To Guide Jackasses

This was literal hell. Not only were they back in their twelve year old bodies. They were stuck with Sir Reginald. Again. They were back in 2001 to try and fix both Vanya and their family, but Vanya didn’t remember anything from the future.

Five figured that his powers had reached their limit trying to bring seven people (five adults, a ghost, and Five) back roughly eighteen years; and apparently Five’s powers had decided to leave Vanya’s in 2019 and bring the rest of theirs back to 2001.

Currently they were flying by the seat of their pants in regards to trying to fix everything they’d fucked up the first time, with little to no clue how to actually fix anything without alerting The Commission to where they were or to Sir Reginald that anything had changed with six of the seven Hargreeves children, seemingly overnight. 

In other words they were absolutely fucked. The only thing going for them right now was that Sir Reginald was going to be out of the house for the entire week, leaving the seven Hargreeves children in the care of Pogo and Grace. 

Another thing that was working in their favor was that their mother Grace brought the official Umbrella Academy Members (as of now) a cardboard box that had five VHS tapes and a letter in it. A second letter, that had been taped to the top, had been claiming it was from Sir Reginald and it was important for the Academy to watch; and given that it seemed to be an order from Sir Reginald (which it wasn’t), Grace and Pogo excused six of the seven children from their lessons and training until they finished whatever ‘Sir Reginald’ had sent for them.

The Hargreeves children, barring Vanya, didn’t believe whatever was in the box was from Sir Reginald since it hadn’t happened the first time and they hadn’t done anything to elicit this to happen in the two days they’d been back. Once Pogo, Grace, and Vanya had left for either lessons (Vanya and Grace) or whatever Pogo did when their father left, the Umbrella Academy opened the cardboard box to find the tapes and the letter. Which immediately started the one point utter chaos that is The Hargreeves.

“What is that?” Klaus had asked, pointing to the letter sitting atop the five cassette tapes.

And Ben kept forgetting the rest of them could hear and see him again, “It’s a letter dumbass.”

“I meant what does the letter say jackass.”

Joining the now typical fighting between Klaus and Ben, Diego snapped at them, “Would both of you shut up?”

“Five, just read the letter before they kill each other please.” Allison asked/demanded. What? She’s working on it.

“Yeah, yeah.” Five muttered, unfolding the letter and reading it aloud for five of his six siblings, _“Umbrella Academy, I’m sure that you’re all smart enough to figure out that this wasn’t a gift from your Father. Enclosed you should find five cassette tapes along with this letter. Each cassette is numbered in the order you six should watch them. To put it brashly, this is your best shot at stopping the apocalypse in eighteen years. Say nothing to your mother, your sister, or the monkey until you’ve finished all of the tapes. I look forward to working with you seven in the future. -H”_

“Who the hell is H?”

“Another insightful question Luther.”

“Shut up Diego.”

“Okay.” Allison, using her mom voice, regained her brothers’ attention, “Who knows where Father has a VHS player? Besides the one in the surveillance room.” Sending a pointed look at Five. In the two days they’d been back Five had accidentally shown their father exactly what he does to loop footage so they could go screw around. Since then their father added a security measure between that room and Grace, in which if anyone other than their father or Pogo entered the room Grace was to alert Sir Reginald immediately.

For once, Luther’s Number One relationship with their father had a good use. “Dad has one in his office.”

“We’ll use that one, I’ll go tell mom that we’re going in his office so she won’t alert him.” Five decided before jumping away. Their father had set his office the same way as the surveillance room. Once Five had jumped away, leaving his siblings with the box, tapes, and letter Diego grabbed the box and started leading them to Reginald’s office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU FOR READING!
> 
> EDIT (3/26): Hey guys, I'm working on the next chapter right now but I wanted to know something, would you guys rather have me break up the episodes into smaller chapters so I can update faster or would you guys rather I have the episodes be just one long chapter which would lead to slower updates?
> 
> Please let me know what you think and what chapter layout you would prefer. If you have any additional comments, questions, suggestions, etc. please let me know.


	2. We Only See Each Other At Weddings And Funerals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Ben watch the first episode of The Umbrella Academy.

Diego shoved the box into Klaus’s hands as he started to work on picking the lock of their father’s office. But as things typically are in the Hargreeves’ household, they couldn’t do anything without bickering. 

“Why do I have to hold it?” Klaus whined, holding the box as far away from him as he could, as if the box had somehow offended him.

“Because Diego gave it to you Klaus,” Ben’s new sass, well new to all of them but Klaus, was much appreciated at times like this, “so deal with it.”

“No. Allie you take it.”

When the box had been placed in Allison’s hands she made a disgusted face like Klaus did, “I don’t want it. Luther you hold it.”

“Fine.” Luther begrudgingly took the box from his sister’s hands, if only to get his siblings to stop bickering.

Although Diego was already at the end of his rope with them, “Would you all shut up? I’m trying to focus.” 

Just after Diego said focus the door popped open, only to be greeted by a smirking Five. “You’re all idiots.” On that note the six members of the Umbrella Academy meandered into their father’s forbidden office.

Immediately upon entering the office Klaus walked to their father’s chair and collapsed into it, throwing his feet onto the desk. “Let’s get this party started mi hermanos.” Luther knocked Klaus’s feet off the desk and gave him his ‘knock it off Klaus’ look.

Luther and Allison dragged the TV and VHS player their father kept in his office. At some point Five had pulled the cassette with a silver #1 written on it and Five had handed it to Allison who then, once Luther had finished setting it up, pushed the tape into the player.

Once the tape began to play the TV showed several women in a pool doing some water aerobics class as the instructor spoke in presumable russian. “What does this have to do with us?” Klaus asked, which was a very fair question.

“Maybe if you shut up we’d find out.”

“You shut up Ben.”

“Both of you shut up.” Allison’s mom voice was back again, which worked quite well to quell the pointless bickering. 

With their attention back on the TV they saw two teenagers, a boy and a girl, sitting on separate benches near each other. Obviously flirting. And if Klaus and Ben made stupid “Ohs and ahs” well, no one called them out on it, at least this time. One of the women from the aerobics class walked between them to the water fountain, and once the woman had returned to the pool the boy quickly walked from his bench to the girl’s.

_The two teens spoke in russian, once again flirting, and as they did the boy leaned in for a kiss as the girl leaned back and seemingly scolded him._ “Booooo.” Klaus booed, alone this time. To which he was scolded by Luther “Klaus shut up.” _The two teens on the TV’s flirting was interrupted by a lifeguard of some type knocking on the glass in a scolding manner._

_Soon after the girl leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to the boy’s cheek before scurrying off into the pool. The water aerobics class continued until some of the women in the class, along with the boy, noticed a lot of blood coming out of the water exactly where the girl had just jumped into._

_The girl’s head popped out of the water, except now the girl was seemingly nine months pregnant when she hadn’t been mere moments ago. It then cut to the girl lying on the tiled floor around the pool, all the women from the class surrounding her as she was trying to birth the baby she hadn’t been pregnant with before._ “Does anyone else think that girl looks a lot like Vanya?” Again, Klaus asked a good question.

“Yeah kind of.” Surprisingly Diego agreed of all people, “But it could be someone else’s birth mom.” Refusing to call their birth mothers their mothers because they had a mother, Grace, and that’s all Diego needed.

“She could be Luther, Klaus, Five, or Vanya’s birth mother.” Ben agreed.

Allison had decided to jump in on their discussion instead of shushing them, “And since both the birth mother and the baby have dark hair, she’s not Luther’s.”

“Leaving Klaus, Five, or Vanya.” Ben said.

“Who’s to say that’s even one of us?” Luther, ever the skeptic, asked.

“Why would they show us something if it has nothing to do with us?” Diego sneered in return

“Well,” Klaus started pulling his brothers’ attention away from their bickering and onto him, kicking his feet back onto the desk, Luther didn’t bother knocking them off again, “we all know I’m from Germany. Which means that’s either baby Five or baby Vanya.”

“Maybe Dad’s book says where we’re all from.” Luther suggested.

“Or we could go ask Pogo.” Allison added.

“Or Mom.” Diego also added, not bothering to hide his glare.

Five wasn’t having any of it, the apocalypse once again seeming to consume every fiber of his being, “Let’s do that later idiots. We need to finish this first, remember?”

Redirecting their attention to the TV, _the girl had birthed her baby and was being shown her baby as the baby cried. Suddenly Pogo’s voice had begun to narrate, “On the 12th hour of the first day of October 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth. This was unusual only in the fact that none of these women had been pregnant when the day first began.”_

“How does that even work?” Ben asked.

“What?” Diego returned.

“If we were all born on the same day at the same time, but we were born in different time zones wouldn’t some of us be older than the others?” Ben continued, “Because the 12th hour is a different time in different places.”

“NOPE. NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS MIND FUCKING SHIT TODAY.” Klaus yelled, rubbing his head as if the discussion had already given him a headache.

Instead of furthering the discussion they, once again, returned their attention to the screen and Pogo’s narration, _“Sir Reginald Hargreeves, eccentric billionaire and adventurer, resolved to locate and adopt as many of the children as possible.” As Pogo spoke their father could be seen walking through a house or apartment building of sorts._

_Once their father reached the room with the previously shown baby and mother he exclaimed, “Extraordinary!” pulling off his gloves as he did so. He immediately reached to touch the baby, whom the mother tried to pull away from their father._

“Smart woman!” Klaus and Ben cheered, their siblings didn’t say anything in disagreeance, but Klaus could see a small smile on each of their faces, even Five’s. 

_On screen their father asked the mother “How much do you want for it?”_ Klaus made a noise and presumably was going to complain about their father calling one of them an it, but Ben elbowed him in the side to tell him to shut up. A few seconds later the words _“He got seven of them”_ appeared on the screen. Klaus and Ben, this time joined by Diego booed the screen.

The screen switched to Reginald leading a parade of his own bought children, each with their own nannies. The children, of course, were in numerical order. Their mini parade stopped in front of their manor, where their father turned to look at the seven strollers.

The screen switched again, _this time to a stage illuminated with lights and the words today appeared._ “Does it mean today like 2001? Or today in 2019?” Ben wondered aloud. _A moment later a 29 year old Vanya could be seen removing her violin from its case,_ answering Ben’s question. _The 29 year old Vanya carefully placed her violin into the proper position and began to play a song_ that, shamefully, none of them could identify.

_As the 29 year old version of their sister played the screen showed where five of the seven siblings had been when or right before they learned of their father’s death/suicide with their given names and their numbers in text. The screen had shown them Luther on the moon, Diego saving a family from robbers, Allison on the red carpet for her latest movie, Klaus getting out of rehab then immediately trading his sobriety coin for drugs followed being brought back by EMTs, and ending on Vanya alone on stage. As the screen flicked back and forth between the five siblings, a news broadcast could be heard announcing their father’s death._

“I’m just gonna ask, but am I a shitty sibling for not knowing how amazing Vanya is or was on the violin?” Klaus asked his siblings, not receiving any responses from his siblings but did notice Five glaring at most of them.

T _he screen switched from Vanya standing in the rain finding out about their father's death to her return to the Academy before landing on the Umbrella Academy’s first portrait on the wall._ Most of the Umbrella Academy was tying to suppress the guilt from remembering their father’s harsh ‘reminder’ to their other sister the day the first portrait was done that she was just ordinary and had nothing special about her which they all knew now was a fucking lie. 

_Slowly the portrait changed from having six members to five members before moving to Five’s portrait, which looked nothing like him according to Five. It also showed Ben’s statue which caused just about all eyes to flicker between the statue version of their brother from the future and their living brother in the now present._

_After being shown Ben’s statue the screen switched back to the portrait that showed five members of the Umbrella Academy before changing to four._ “Wasn’t that depressing?” And for once it wasn’t Klaus throwing a question into the universe but Ben. And after getting some half glares from several of his sibling and chuckle out of Klaus, Ben amended his question with, “What? I’m right.”

_On screen Vanya was shown entering the Academy and was surprisingly wasn’t greeted by their mother immediately. Instead Vanya saw their mother in a trancelike and unresponsive state by the fire place and Five’s despised portrait. Their sister tried multiple times to get a response from their mother to no avail._

_Rather than getting a response from their mother, Vanya got a response from future Allison. “Vanya?” Allison could be heard more than seen walking down the stairs of their house, “You’re actually here.”_

“Well that wasn’t a very friendly welcoming Alliecat.” Klaus teased.

“Shut up Klaus.” Allison snapped back. 

“No. Stop telling me to shut up. I can talk all I want if I want to. It’s my right as an American citizen.” Klaus declared, before asking, “Wait, are we even American citizens or are we like immigrants?”

“I thought we weren’t asking questions like that today Klaus?”

“Shut up Ben.”

“Never.”

_Back on the screen Vanya nervously greeted her sister with a “Hey, Allison.”_

_To which Allison replied “Hey, sis.”_ and was followed by one fo the most awkward hugs Klaus had ever seen, and there had been plenty.

And in typical Diego fashion, immediately following the attempted cute moment _he comes in and says “What is she doing here?” to Allison and “You don’t belong here. Not after what you did.” to Vanya, without stopping on his way up the stairs._

_While Vanya didn’t say anything, instead electing to look at the floor rather than either of her present siblings, Allison replied with “You’re seriously gonna do this today?” while Diego literally stomped up the stairs. When she received no response from her brother Allison added, “Way to dress for the occasion by the way.”_

_And Diego replied with “At least I’m wearing black.” before disappearing off screen on his way up the stairs._

_Vanya was quick to begrudgingly agree to what Diego had said about her and said, “You know what? I - Maybe he’s right.”_ Present Diego was feeling a mix of satisfaction and annoyance at himself. If he hadn’t known that Vanya secretly had powers all along that had been hidden by their father for unknown reasons that would inevitably cause the apocalypse, he would’ve been happy to be able to make her feel like shit over the stupid book that she wrote about them. But Diego now that knows what happens in over a week's time was annoyed with himself for adding onto the utter shit show that was Vanya’s life before. Diego was also absolutely ignoring the glares he was getting from Klaus, Five, and Ben who hadn’t been present during that interaction. _“And I shouldn’t-” Vanya continued before Allison cut her off._

_“Forget about him.” On screen Allison said._

“Rude.”

“Shut up Diego.”

_“I’m glad you’re here.” Future Allison finished. Vanya gave her sister a half smile before casting her eyes once more to the floor._

“Did anyone else notice how defeated Vanya looked, or looks, whatever anytime someone talks to her? Or maybe it's just us? We are grade A assholes.”

“Klaus?”

“Yes Diego?”

“Shut up.”

“Fine.”

_The scene then switched to Luther in their father’s bedroom, clearly looking for something. As Luther was checking just about anything and everything in the room for something or some kind of sign, Diego strolled in and mocked him with, “I can save you some time. They’re all locked. No forced entry, no sign of struggle. Nothing out of the ordinary.”_

“You guys know what we should do to make this a more enjoyable experience?” Klaus asked, and when he got no reply from his siblings he continued, “We should make it a drinking game, every time someone says ordinary we all drink.”

Luther, ever the leader, was first to reply with a stern, “No Klaus.”

Allison actually rolled her eyes as she said, “Absolutely not.”

All Diego said was “Never in a million years.” as he fiddled with one of his knives

“You’re an idiot.” Five’s comments were always one of two things anyway, an insult or a backhanded compliment.

“I thought you were doing the whole sober thing now?” Ben being Ben, tried to be positive, but didn’t bother to hide his concern that his brother was going to put himself down the same path as before.

Rather than address anything Klaus just said, “It was a joke guys. Calm down.”

_Back on the screen, Diego walked towards Luther saying in a mix of shock and mocking “Oh, you got big, Luther. What’s the secret, huh? Protein shakes? Low carbs?”_ Once again, knowing what he knows now, Diego felt a bit bad for being such an ass to his siblings.

_Rather than taking Future Diego’s bait Luther asked “What do you want?”_

_Diego pulled something out of his pocket, some slightly crumpled papers; claiming they were the autopsy report of their father’s death. As Luther reached to take the papers from Diego, he pulled them just out of his reach before just handing them to his brother._

“Do you have to be such an ass all the time?” Allison asked present Diego, obviously annoyed his future or past self’s actions. Whether she actually annoyed with how he acted or if it was because he picked on her, apparently, two favorite siblings (rude) Diego didn’t now.

_As Luther unfolded the autopsy report Diego had just given him he asked his brother, “And you have this why?”_

_To which Diego replied, “Well, that’s because I broke into the coroner’s office.”_

“Of course you did.” Five mocked.

_“And surprise, surprise,” on screen Diego continued, “Dad’s death was normal. Just a boring, old heart failure.”_

_Luther asked Diego, “Yeah, so?”_

_“So, why are you in here,” Diego questioned, “checking all the windows?”_

_Rather than answer any of Diego’s questioning Luther asked Diego, “Were you the first one on the scene?”_

“Why would Diego be there first? He doesn’t even live there?” Klaus questioned.

And Ben replied with, “Luther thought Diego killed dad, remember?”

“Oh, yeah.”

_Back on the screen Diego replied with, “Pogo found him.”_

_Luther, obviously not believing his brother said, “Yeah, I talked to Pogo. He said he couldn’t find Dad’s monocle.”_

_“And your point being?” Diego asked._

“Do you guys always have to fight with each other?” Allison asked present Luther and Diego.

“Yeah,” Klaus jumped in, “why don’t we all just sit in a circle and sing kumbaya?”

_On screen Luther continued his questioning of Diego, “Can you think of a single time you saw Dad and he wasn’t wearing that monocle?” Luther paused, waiting for Diego to respond; and when no response came he continued, “No. Which means someone took it. Which means there’s a chance he wasn’t alone when he died.”_

Both on screen and present Diego were getting fed up with Luther’s incessant questioning and underlying accusations about their father’s monocle and Diego’s possible role in his death. Present Diego didn’t say anything while on screen _Diego said, aggravation clear in his voice, “There is no mystery here. Nothing to avenge. Nothing to solve, nothing like that.” By now Diego had gotten out of the chair he had been sitting in and was back to standing across from Luther, “It’s just a sad old man who kicked it in a big, empty house. Just like he deserved.”_

_All Luther said in response to Diego’s rude, but accurate, portrayal of what happened to their father was “You should leave.”_

_“Whatever you say, brother.” And with that Diego left Luther in their father’s bedroom._

_Back downstairs, the screen shows Vanya looking at all the Umbrella Academy memorabilia their father left displayed around the house and then her book with ‘Dad, I figured why not? -V’ written on the inside cover before being greeted by Pogo. “Welcome home, Ms. Vanya.”_

_“Pogo.” Vanya and Pogo hugged each other_ , their hug was much more, less forced, and far less awkward than Vanya and Allison’s hug had been.

_Once their hug had separated Pogo continued, “So good to see you.” Pogo then noticed that Vanya was still holding her book, “Ah, yes, your autobiography,”_

The room had mixed emotions about the mentioning of Vanya’s book; some were still angry about it some of them seemed to be interested while most of them were fighting their mixed emotions about the book.

_“Do you know, um,” Vanya started, seeming to regret asking the question she’d already started asking, “Did he ever read it?”_

_Pogo seemed hesitant to answer their sister’s question about their father, landing on his answer of “Not that I’m aware of.” At Pogo’s answer, Vanya looked over to Five’s portrait hanging on the wall._

_Deciding to change the subject from their father to their, at the time, missing brother, Vanya asked, “How long has it been since Five disappeared?”_

“16 years!” Klaus called, before getting another elbow to his side from Ben.

_“It’s been 16 years, 4 months, and 14 days.” Pogo answered, “Your father insisted I keep track.”_

“Why would he care?” Five asked, more himself than his siblings.

“Maybe at first it was to see how long it took you to get back,” Ben suggested, “since he didn’t think you’d be able to time travel.”

“Then he just didn’t tell Pogo to stop keeping track when you didn’t.” Klaus added.

“I did come back.” Five argued.

“Not what I meant you little gremlin.” Klaus countered, laughing at the mix of anger and shock on Five’s face.

_Back in the future, Vanya asked Pogo, “You wanna know something stupid?”_

“Always.” Klaus answered.

Not really waiting for a verbal response from Pogo, _Vanya continued “I always used to leave the lights on for him. I was scared that he would come back, it would be late, and the house would be dark and he wouldn’t be able to find us, so he’d leave again.”_

Five felt like the biggest asshole in the universe. His sister did, admittedly stupid, things for him every night after he’d left them in hopes he’d come back to them and the first night he’d been back he left her.

Klaus whispered, although it wasn’t actually that quiet, “Ugh, can Vanya stop making me want to either give her a hug or like hide her from all the shit that’s gonna happen?” to Ben.

_“So, every night I’d make him a little snack,” Vanya continued, explaining to Pogo what she used to do for Five even though he knew quite well what she used to do for him, “and make sure all the lights were on.”_

_“Oh, I remember your snacks.” Pogo said, “I’m pretty sure I stepped in half those peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches.”_ Five was a mix of upset and sad. Sad about Vanya making him is favorite sandwich every night for years and him not being able to be there to get them. And he was upset for the waste of his favorite peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches. 

_Pogo casted another look at Five’s portrait before continuing, “Your Father always believed that Number Five was still out there somewhere. He never lost hope.”_ Five doubted that their father actually believed he was still out there, but rather Pogo was just trying to comfort Vanya in some way.

Surprisingly _Vanya bit back, “And look where that got him.”_

“Is she talking about dad or Five?” Ben asked.

And Klaus answered with, “I think she was referring to dad.” when no one else answered.

The scene shifted again, this time to _Allison entering their father’s office back in 2019. The office flickered and showed their father sitting at his desk, writing in his stupid book as their mother entered with all seven of the Hargreeves children waiting in the doorframe behind her. “The children are ready for bed, sir. They wanted to say goodnight.”_

Each member of the Umbrella Academy knew exactly what the memory was going to show them, but that didn’t stop the disappointment they felt anyway.

_Their father didn’t look up from his book or stop his writing to acknowledge his children. And when their father didn’t acknowledge them their mother turned from their father and towards them saying, “Okay! Time for bed now, kids. Come along now.” Six of the children left after their mother’s instruction, leaving Allison as the only one waiting for their father. Grace put her hands around Allison's shoulders saying, “Come along now, Allison, you father’s busy._

_Just before their mother turned Allison away from their father and lead her towards their bedrooms Allison hissed, “He’s always busy.”_

Klaus laughed as he muttered something along the lines of “Okay. Go off sis.”

_Their father never looked up from his book to acknowledge his children._

Back in 2019, _Allison can hear Klaus muttering “Where’s the cash, Dad?” as he rummages through the things and drawers in their father’s office._

_“Klaus?” Allison called, leaning over their father's desk; soon after Klaus’s head pops up behind the desk as Allison asked “What are you doing in here?”_

“Oh! Allison!” Klaus said, trying to act like he hadn’t just been caught by his sister, “Wow, is that you?” Klaus had now pushed himself off the floor and was moving to give Allison a hug saying, “Come here.” As Allison tried to hide the smile on her face at her brother’s antics. 

_Just seconds after Allison and Klaus’s hug broke apart, Klaus said, “Hey, I was hoping to see you, actually, because I wanted to get your autograph. Add it to my collection!”_

“You had a collection of autographs, Klaus?” Ben questioned.

“Yes I did Ben.” Klaus remarked, sounding a bit like a defiant toddler.

“I don’t remember seeing it.” Ben continued. 

Klaus at this point crossed his arms and pointedly looked away from Ben, “That’s because I didn’t show it to you Benjamin.”

“Really?”

“Shut up.”

It was at this point that _2019 Allison noticed Klaus’s medical bracelet still on his wrist, “Just out of rehab?” To which Klaus denied of course_ , which they all knew, and saw, had been a lie.

_Klaus went on to say that he had only come to the house to ensure that their father was actually dead, “You know how I know? Because if he were alive, not one of us would be allowed to set foot in this room.”_

“So naturally that’s the first place you went.”

“At least I didn’t break into a coroner’s office Diego!”

_2019 Klaus continued on saying, “He was always in here, our whole childhood, plotting his next torment, right?” The Klaus on the screen kicked his feet up on their father’s desk the same Klaus was doing in their present. It was a bit odd. “Remember how he used to look at us? That scowl? Thank Christ he’s not our real father so we couldn’t inherit those cold, dead eyes!” Klaus then gave one of the best impressions the Academy, except Luther who was not amused by their brother’s antics, had seen of their father._

_That is until Luther walked into the office and said, “Get out of his chair.”_

_Klaus did get out of the chair, but as he did he said, “Oh, wow, Luther! Wow, you really, you really filled out over the years, huh?” Luther, not having any of Klaus’s antics, was getting ready to tell him again when Klaus jumped in, “Save the lecture. I was already leaving.” Klaus moved out from behind the desk, making his way towards the door as he said “You guys can talk amongst yourselves.”_

_Just before Klaus got out the door Luther stopped and said, “Drop it.”_

_“Ex-squeeze me?” Klaus replied, feigning ignorance._

_“Do it. Now.” Luther demanded. Klaus unwillingly dropped several items, claiming it was an advance on his inheritance, before leaving Allison and Luther in their father’s office. The scene shifted, rather than staying on Allison and Luther in their father’s office, it switched to Klaus pulling an ornate box out from behind him._

“I knew it!” Luther exclaimed.

_The scene then returned back to Allison and Luther, “So, Klaus is still Klaus, in case you were wondering.” Luther filled._

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Klaus squawked, looking quite offended. To which no one answered, least of all Luther.

_2019 Allison replied with, “You know, after all these years, I find it strangely comforting.”_

“Thank you Allison!” Klaus cheered.

_Luther then moved the topic of discussion from one brother to the next, “Did you see Diego?”_

_“With his stupid outfit?” Allison mocked._

“It’s not stupid!” Diego defended, because of course 1 and 3 would team against the rest of them.

“Sure Diego.”

“Hey, you’ve worn nothing but the uniforms Five. So don’t start with me.”

_“Do you think he wears that thing in the bathroom?” 2019 Luther asked._

“No.” Diego answered.

_“Like in the shower?” Allison clarified._

“Yeah.”

_“Yes, absolutely!”_

Both Luther and Allison laughed at the thought of Diego wearing his 2019/vigilante outfit in the shower. _After a beat of silence Luther said, “I, uh, wasn't sure you’d come.”_

_“Me neither.” Allison replied._

_Their conversation awkwardly moved into Allison’s divorce with Patrick and loss of custody over Claire along with Luther being on the moon, not being able to now and touching on how Allison claimed she didn’t do the whole ‘rumor thing’ anymore._

_The scene jumped to Luther, Diego, Allison, and Vanya sitting in the living room as Klaus fixes himself a drink at the bar._

“Ooh, this is going to be fun!” Klaus cheered, remembering their little family meeting about Dad’s funeral and death.

_“Um, I guess we should get this started.” Luther said, pushing himself off the couch he had been sitting on, “So, I figured we could have a sort of memorial service in the courtyard at sundown. Say a few words, just at Dad’s favorite spot.” As Luther talked the scene switched between the five siblings._

_“Dad had a favorite spot?” Allison questioned._

_“You know,” Luther said, “under the oak tree. We used to sit out there all the time. None of you ever did that?”_

“Luther,” Klaus called, cupping his hands as if he was shouting at his brother, “your privilege is showing.” before dissolving into laughter.

_On screen Klaus joined his siblings from the bar, moving to take a seat on the couch with Vanya as he asked Luther, “Will there be refreshments? Tea? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a winner.”_

_“What? No.” Luther said to Klaus’s suggestions, and then “And put that out. Dad didn’t allow smoking in here.” to Klaus and his lit cigarette._

“Allie, do you still have that skirt by the way?” Klaus asked, watching his future self flounce around their living room in a beautiful skirt that he was absolutely missing. Allison nodded with a laugh, telling him she’ll find it for him later.

_As Klaus and Allison were discussing Klaus wearing one of Allison’s skirt that he’d found in her room when Luther called the attention back to what he’d wanted to talk about. “Listen up. Still some important things that we need to discuss, all right?”_

_“Like what?” Diego asked._

_“Like the way he died.” Luther said._

“It sucks that you were right about that you know.” Diego muttered, still slightly annoyed that Luther was right about their father not dying of exactly natural causes.

_“And here we go.” Future Diego said, a small smirk on his face as he looked towards the windows._

_“I don’t understand.” Vanya said, “I thought they said it was a heart attack.”_

_“Yeah, according to the coroner.” Luther said, suspicion in his answer._

_Vanya questioned Luther’s suspicion of the corner with, “Well, wouldn’t they know?”_

Klaus laughed, “She’s got you there Lu-lu.”

“Stop calling me that Klaus.”

“Never.”

_“Theoretically.” Future Luther replied._

_“Theoretically?” Allison questioned._

_Luther seemed surprised that his siblings weren’t agreeing with him, “I’m just saying, at the very least, something happened. The last time that I talked to Dad, he sounded strange.” Klaus went on to mock Luther, which he ignored for the most part._

_“Strange how?” Allison questioned further._

_“He sounded on edge.” Luther explained, “Told me I should be careful who to trust.”_

“It sounds like,” Five theorized, “that he didn’t want you telling the rest of us, or them, about all the shit he’d been making you do. Less questions.”

_“Luther,” Future Diego said, standing up from his chair, “he was a paranoid, bitter old man who started to lose what was left of his marbles.”_

_Luther, of course, defended their father even after death, “No. He must have known something was going to happen.” Turning from facing Diego to face Klaus, Luther continued, “Look, I know you don’t like to do it, but I need you to talk to Dad.”_

_Klaus went from being in his relaxed, reclined position on the couch to sitting on the edge, “I can’t just call Dad in the afterlife and be like, “Dad, could you just stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?”_

“Good one Klaus.”

“Thanks Five.”

_“Since when?” Luther questioned, “That’s your thing.”_

_“I’m not in the right,” Klaus defended, “frame of mind.”_

_“You’re high?” Allison filled, which Klaus excitedly agreed to._

_“I mean, how are you not,” Klaus continued, hands waving about the room, “listening to this nonsense?”_

_Luther told Klaus to ‘sober up’ as if it was that easy, before moving onto their father’s missing monocle. Which lead to Luther indirectly accusing one of his siblings to killing their father._

“Obviously he thought Diego killed him.” Five said.

“Why’s that?” Diego questioned Five.

“Well Allison was in a different state, Vanya wouldn’t have the abilities or means to, and Klaus would’ve taken all the money and valuables he could.” Five explained.

“Hey! I mean true. But hey!” Klaus squawked with indignance. _The scene in the living room ended with Allison, Diego, Klaus, and Vanya leaving Luther alone in the mess he’d made of the conversation with his accusation._

_It then flashed back to seventeen years in the past from 2019, to a new reporter outside of the bank from their first mission. As the bank robbers moved their hostages around_ , most of the Umbrella Academy was embarrassingly excited to see themselves in action again as a team. 

_Allison was the first Academy member shown, using her rumor to cause the leader to shoot their friend in the foot._

_Next was Luther, crashing through the glass ceiling of the bank and throwing one of the robbers out a different window._

_After Luther was Diego, claiming that guns were for sissies and that real men throw knives, before throwing two that impaled another robber._

_As Diego, Allison, and Klaus taunted the leader, Five appeared on the counter behind him, performing several spatial jumps before switching his gun with a stapler._

_Finally Ben was shown, obviously, and verbally, not wanting to use his powers but being made to do so anyway._

_As the Umbrella Academy exited the bank and posed for pictures, all except Ben who looked miserable covered in blood. The scene switched to Reginald and Vanya watching them from another rooftop. “Why can’t I go play with the others?” Vanya asked Reginald._

“Better question, why did he bring her with him?” Ben asked.

_“We’ve been through this before Number Seven.” Their father answered, “I’m afraid there’s just nothing special about you.”_

“To do that I guess.” Ben muttered, more to himself and Klaus than anyone else. From the way their father said it, Vanya had clearly asked multiple times if she could ‘play’ with them and their father always told her she was ordinary or there was nothing special about her.

_The scene shifted once more from within the flashback to their father announcing the six of them as the Umbrella Academy, while also claiming to have only adopted six special children._ Allison never realized how many little things their father did to separate them from Vanya as well as from each other until now, and it pissed her off.

_Jumping back into 2019, Klaus is seen standing, facing their father’s ashes as he tries to summon their father whilst still under the influence of probably various substances. After several attempts to speak with their father, to no avail, Klaus reached across the bar to get a drink and accidentally knocked over their father’s ashes._

“Klaus!” Luther yelled.

“It was an accident!” Klaus defended.

_The screen moved from Klaus freaking out about spilling their father’s ashes to Luther walking past far too familiar posters about attacking your opponent in various ways. Luther moved into his dark bedroom, littered with model planes and space memorabilia._

_The scene shifted to Allison in her light and pink bedroom that made it quite obvious that a boy-crazy teen girl had lived in the room. Jewelry, make-up, and magazines covered her vanity._

_Moving downstairs, Klaus, with their father’s ashes, was taking too many pills for someone who was already intoxicated, but he didn’t seem to care._

_Back in the living room Diego dropped onto one of the couches and began fiddling with one of his knives._ Unsurprisingly present Diego was doing the same thing without realizing it.

_Then the screen switched to Vanya sitting on the main stairs._

“Why does it seem like this is setting up something?” Five asked.

“Oh, because it is brother dearest.” Klaus cheekily responded.

_Back in Luther’s room, Luther pulls out one of his various records and once he starts to play it ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’ can be heard throughout the house. One by one, the five Hargreeves siblings started dancing in various styles that perfectly matched their personalities._ But as they watched themselves and their siblings dance, Ben noticed something.

“Diego totally saw Vanya dancing.”

“No I didn’t.” Diego denied, of course.

“You were in the room next to her.” Five jumped in.

“And your eyes shifted as you were closing the door.” Klaus added.

“What does it matter if I did? Could we just move on?” Diego snapped, thoroughly ending any conversation about that.

_Their little dance party ended when a surprise, and very familiar, thunderstorm suddenly rolled in. Diego and Vanya were the first ones outside to see what would be the portal Five pushed himself through. Followed by Luther and Allison._

_Vanya was the first to say anything once they’d gotten outside, “What is it?”_

_Allison soon after called, “Don’t get too close!” as she grabbed on Luther’s arm._

_“Yeah, no shit.” Diego bit back._

_“Looks like some sort of temporal anomaly.” Luther said, trying to explain what the portal might be, “Either that or a miniature black hole. One of the two.”_

_“Pretty big difference there, Paul Bunyan.” Diego said back._

“Nice one D.”

“Thanks Klaus.”

_The Klaus was running out of the house holding a fire extinguisher calling, “Out of the way!” as he at first tied to put out the portal with it before just throwing the fire extinguisher into the portal._

_The four of the five siblings bickered a bit more before the old man version of Five could be seen on the other side of the portal, and as he pushed through they could see him change from and old man back to his thirteen year old self._

_The five siblings slowly approached Five as Klaus said, “Does anyone else see little Number Five, or is that just me?”_

_At Klaus’s words little Number Five looked down at himself to see that is suit no longer fit him as well as it once had and uttered the word “Shit.” As his name and number were shown with text at the bottom of the screen._

“Language young man!” Klaus scolded.

_The scene jumped from the now six siblings standing out in the courtyard to mostly sitting in the kitchen where Number Five is walking around the kitchen getting the various supplies he needed to make his favorite sandwich. Five asked his siblings “What’s the date? The exact date.”_

_Vanya replied, “The 24th.”_

_“Of what?” ___

____

_“March.” ___

______ _ _

_“Good.” ___

________ _ _ _ _

_A beat of silence fell over the Hargreeves as Five worked on constructing his snack before Luther said, “So, are we gonna talk about what just happened?” After Five didn’t answer Luther, or even look up from what he was working on, Luther stood up from his chair demanding an answer from his brother, “It’s been 17 years.”_

________ _ _ _ _

“That’s what I said.” Klaus yelled.

________ _ _ _ _

“You said 16 years.” Ben corrected.

________ _ _ _ _

“Oh, right,”

________ _ _ _ _

_Back in the future Five sneered back a reply of, “It’s been a lot longer than that.” Before jumping past Luther to grab a supply for his sandwich._

________ _ _ _ _

_“I haven’t missed that.” Luther grumbled. ___

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

_“Where’d you go?” Diego asked. ___

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_“The future.” Five said before jumping back to where he had been constructing his snack, “It’s shit, by the way.” ___

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_“Called it!” Klaus cheered,_ both on screen and in the present.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_“I should’ve listened to the old man.” Five admitted which shocked his siblings on screen, “You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice.” Five paused his sandwich making as he opened a jar and complemented Klaus’s outfit of choice._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_“Wait,” Vanya asked, “how did you get back?”_

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_“In the end, I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time.” Five answered and explained in a very Five manner._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_“That makes no sense.” Diego said._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Still makes no sense.” Present Diego echoed.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_“Well,” Five retorted, “it would if you were smarter.”_

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_The five siblings asked Five more questions which he gave half answers to until he decided he was done answering questions a walked out of the room._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Why wouldn’t you tell Vanya about Delores Five?” Klaus pestered, although he and Ben really wanted to know why he wouldn’t tell his supposed best friend about his mannequin friend.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“None of your business dipshit.”

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Five!” Allison scolded

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Whatever.”

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_After Five changed from his now ill-fitting suit into one of his Academy uniforms, Vanya found him staring at his own portrait. “Nice to know Dad didn’t forget me.” Five said before turning to face his sister, “Read your book, by the way.”_

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“When did you read Vanya’s book?” Luther asked.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Apocalypse. Isn’t that ironic?” Five answered.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Future Five continued, “Found it in a library that was still standing. I thought it was pretty good, all things considered. Yeah, definitely ballsy, giving up the family secrets. Sure that went over well.”_

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Vanya immediately replied with, “They hate me.”_ Allison added telling Vanya that they love her to her mental to-do list after they finished watching their week before the apocalypse.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_“Oh,” Five said, possibly trying to comfort Vanya in his own way, “there are worse things that can happen.”_

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“How are you two simultaneously the cutest thing ever and utterly depressing?” Klaus pondered, getting weird looks from several of his siblings.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Five and Vanya briefly talked about Ben’s death before the scene changed to Ben’s statue outside in the courtyard getting drenched in rain as the remaining Hargreeves siblings, Pogo, and Grace walk to stand in the rain, each with their own umbrellas except for Diego and Luther, for Reginald Hargreeves’s memorial service._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Reginald’s memorial service seems to go worse watching it than when it happened, at least this time they weren't completely soaked. What they hadn’t known before was that Klaus stuck his cigarette into Reginald’s ashes._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Klaus! How could you do that?” Luther asked.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Stop defending him would you? We all know our father was and is a monster.” Diego snapped, “He locked and medicated Klaus and Vanya away when didn’t want to deal with them anymore, he got Ben killed, he pushed Five into getting stuck in the apocalypse, he experimented on you, he’d lock me in a water tank for hours on end, and he’d make Allison rumor people over and over gain until she couldn’t speak. So why do you keep defending him?”

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Luther didn’t respond, and everyone had paled a bit at Diego’s speech.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_In another flashback their father and Vanya are standing at the top of the stairs while the rest of them are waiting at the bottom. Vanya blew the whistle their father had given her to use as his assistant in their training and the six Umbrella Academy members began racing up the stairs._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Moving from the flashback of the races up the stairs to the day they got their Umbrella Academy tattoos._ In their current timeline, they hadn’t gotten them yet. _As the six Academy members waited to get, were getting, or had already gotten their tattoos, Vanya stood on the stairs watching from a distance and drew her own tattoo with black marker._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Well, isn’t that depressing?” Ben pondered, “We all hated them, and Vanya wanted one.”

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Another scene showed of their father putting odd wires onto Luther’s head as he slept, before revealing that had done it to all seven of the children and seemed to be monitoring their brain activity._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Why does Vanya’s beep more than Five’s or Allison’s?” Klaus whispered to Ben.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“It means she's smarter than them.” Ben whispered back.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Back in the present time of 2019, Vanya leaves the Academy, returning to her apartment as Five searches the kitchen for a drop of coffee and Allison asks where Vanya had gone to._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_“Dad hated caffeine.” Allison said in response to Five’s complaining about a lack of coffee._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_“Well,” Klaus added, “he hated children, too, and he had plenty of us.”_

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“I mean,” Ben said, “he’s not wrong.”

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Thank you Ben.”

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Five then left to get the car, claiming to get a decent cup of coffee. Klaus saying that he wanted to stop Five, but also wanted to see what would happen. Shortly after Five drives off Diego enters the kitchen, saying he’ll see his siblings again in ten years, when Pogo dies. To which Allison affectionately adds, “Not if you die first.” After a few more low blows from Diego goes to leave the kitchen and out to his car, only to be somewhat stopped by Klaus looking for a ride._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Begrudgingly giving Klaus a ride, Allison and Luther are left as the only Hargreeves siblings still in the house. Grace walks to her small art gallery and charging station for the evening._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Ugh, why does that have to look so weird?” Klaus mumbed, watching their mother get recharged.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Five pulls into their favorite doughnut shop, Griddy’s, and is one of the two patrons in the small diner. After ordering a black coffee and talking about coming there when he was younger, despite looking like a 13 year old, Five asks the other patron for an address._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_As Five is enjoying his cup of coffee several members of the Commision surrounded Five before he murdered them one by one with things like a butter knife, their own guns, and even a pencil or two._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Five that was extraordinarily badass and terrifying at the same time.” Klaus said. And that was before _Five stabbed his own arm to remove the tracker the commission had placed in it._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Jumping from the now destroyed diner to Diego standing at the end of the pier, holding their father’s monocle. Klaus called to his brother about not wanting to disrupt his brooding moment but that they were starving, before the screen showed Ben in the backseat with Klaus with text like the rest of his siblings had of his name and number. But Ben got an extra moniker of deceased added to his name and number._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Diego let the monocle drop into the water as his police radio reported the gunshot Five had caused over at Griddy’s. Rather than taking Klaus to get food like Diego, possibly, promised he was now going to be dropping Klaus, and by extension Ben, off at a bus stop and get back to work._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Ah, yes. The work of a police academy drop out turned vigilante.”

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Can it Klaus.”

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_The fist half of the tape ended when Vanya returned to her apartment to Five sitting in her apartment. In the dark._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“That’s really creepy Five.” Allison said, which Five merely shrugged in response to.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_“Jesus!” Vanya said, being scared by the brother she wasn’t expecting to be sitting in her apartment in the dark._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_All Five said was, “You should have locks on your windows.”_

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Why would anyone have locks on their windows?” Klaus asked.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“If they want to get robbed, or murdered, or worse.” Diego answered, which Five nodded in agreeance to.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Vanya defended her apparent lack of locks according to Diego and Five with, _“I live on the second floor.”_

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_“Rapists can climb.” Five countered._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“See!” Diego exclaimed, using Five’s statement as a reason people should have locks on their windows. 

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_“You are so weird.” Vanya replied._

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Vanya’s like, the only person who could call Five weird and not get murdered.” Klaus pointed out.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“I mean, you called him a gremlin earlier.” Ben countered.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“You right.”

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Vanya sat on her couch near Five, and almost immediately noticed the blood on Five’s shirt's collar, “Is that blood?”_

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Five decided to tell Vanya about the apocalypse first of his siblings. At first claiming it was because she was ordinary, before relenting and admitting that it was because he knew she’d listen to him. But before Five could explain anything to Vanya, Vanya went into her bathroom and got medical supplies for the self-inflicted wound Five had made on his arm.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Vanya carefully tried to clean and dress Five’s injury as Five watched Vanya carefully as she did so. Five’s mind vividly reminded him_ and by extension five of his six other siblings what the apocalypse had looked like. Along with him learning what day the apocalypse happened on.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Five told Vanya, “The world ends in eight days, and I have no idea how to stop it.”_

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_After Vanya obviously tried to process what Five had said, she then said, I’ll put on a pot of coffee.”_

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The screen faded to black before the words ‘The End of Episode One of Ten: We Only See Each Other At Weddings and Funerals. Up Next, Episode Two of Ten: Run Boy Run.”

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Well, that was something huh?” Klaus huffed.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

One down, nine to go.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you've enjoyed my fic so far!
> 
> Please let me know what you think and if there are any glaring errors as I did finish and upload this chapter at like 2 am.
> 
> P.S. This was about 20 pages long in my doc. Updates for this fic will probably about once a week, purely because each chapter will take me about 6+ hours to do. But I do apologize in advance if updates take longer than I am predicting.


	3. Run Boy Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Ben watch the second episode, Run Boy Run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm slowly adding some elements from the comics so just a heads up for that.

The tape’s black screen with the text, “Up Next, Episode Two of Ten: Run Boy Run” remained on the screen as the six Hargreeves children shifted in their seats throughout their father’s office, feeling different mixes of annoyance, anger, sadness, nervousness, and to some degree excitement about what was to come. Despite none of them knowing however ‘H’ divided their week into 10 episodes as they’d called them.

_The second episode started in yet another flashback of their first childhood; their mother preparing their dinner before calling the children and their father into their dinning room. The Hargreeves children stood behind their chairs until their father gave them permission to sit._

“That’s always been my least favorite part.” Ben muttered.

“What was your favorite part then?” Klaus asked.

“Leaving.”

_The Hargreeves eat their dinner in mostly silence, the scene showed Luther and Allison giving each other some suggestive looks while Diego carved something in the table, Klaus was shown rolling a blunt, Five kept looking at their father with a knowing look as Ben read from his book and Vanya refused to look up from her plate any more than to give Five a look in an effort to try and stop Five from whatever he had planned._

_Five stabbing the table with his knife caused several of the Hargreeves_ , on and off screen, _to jump at the sudden noise. “Number Five?” Their father questioned, not seeming too surprised by Five’s disobedience._

_“I have a question.” Five said in response to their father._

_“Knowledge is an admirable goal,” their father responded as Allison, Diego, and Klaus could be seen on the screen looking weary about Five’s actions, “but you know the rules. No talking during mealtimes. You are interrupting Herr Carlson.”_

“Because Herr Carlson is so much more important than your children,” Allison mocked.

_“I want to time travel.” Five demanded._

_Their father answered their brother with a sighed, “No.”_

_“But I’m ready.” Five countered, “I’ve been practicing my spatial jumps, just like you said.” Before Five jumped from his seat to standing next to their father, “See?”_

_Their father, not looking away from his meal said, “A spatial jump is trivial when compared with the unknowns of time travel.”_

“Why does he talk like he’s experienced time travel?” Diego asked.

“Yeah,” Klaus added, “how would he know about it unless he’s done it?”

_“One is like sliding along the ice,” their father continued, “the other is akin to descending blindly into the depths of the freezing water and reappearing as an acorn.”_

“What does that even mean?” Allison asked.

“No clue.” Luther sighed.

_“Well, I don’t get it.” 2002 Five admitted._

_“Hence the reason you’re not ready.” Their father declared, seeming to decide that was the end of the conversation. From the other end of the table, Vanya is shown shaking her head at Five._

“It’s like she knew what was going to happen!” Klaus noticed.

“I told her what I was planning Klaus.” Five said.

“Well, why didn’t you tell any of us?”

“Because none of you would’ve listened to me, seriously.”

_Ignoring Vanya, Five persisted, “I’m not afraid.”_

_“Fear isn’t the issue.” their father countered, “The effects it might have on your body, even on your mind, are far too unpredictable. Now, I forbid you to talk about this anymore.” Rather than returning to his seat like their father, and the rest of his siblings, had predicted Five left._

“If only you listened to him.” Klaus mockingly sighed, making fun of both their father and Five.

_The scene followed Five out onto the sidewalk as he performs his first time jump, then his second, then his third, landing him in the apocalypse._ To say his siblings reacted poorly to seeing the apocalypse for the first time, would be an understatement.

“Shit.”

“Jesus!”

“Oh my god. Five”

“How did you survive in that?”

“That’s fucking terrifying.”

_Five, who was now stuck in 2019, sometime after the apocalypse, began running back to where the Academy had stood mere moments before for him. The first name Five called was “Vanya!”._

“Aww, that’s adorable.”

“Shut up Klaus.”

_Five then called “Ben!”, then “Dad!”, and worst of all, “Anyone!”. After receiving no response from anyone in the post-apocalyptic world, Five desperately tried to jump back to 2002 a few times before realizing he was stuck in the future, with no way to get back._

_Back in not apocalypse 2019, Five is explaining to Vanya his experience in the apocalypse. Five kept saying we instead of I, referring to himself and Delores, causing Vanya to ask, “We?” Before Five diverted the conversation into Vanya getting him, as he put it, something stronger than his coffee._

“He’s still not telling Vanya about Delores.” Klaus whispered to Ben.

_As Five watched Vanya, trying to process all of the horrifying information he had just given her, he figured she thought he was crazy, getting annoyed when Vanya wasn’t perfectly understanding everything he had told her, before going on to claim that she was too young to understand._

“Which is ironic, considering you look 13.” Diego mocked, getting a glare from Five after he’d said it.

_Vanya managed to get Five to stay a few more moments in her apartment as she went to bed before he left, disregarding what he’d said to her, seeming to have more important things to do._

_The scene then jumped to the Luna Motor Lodge Motel, an unfortunately familiar sight for Diego, Klaus, and Ben. Hazel and Cha-Cha are seen getting key to their room, which would later become the place Klaus’s touture and Eudora’s death._

_Cha-Cha opened the box they’d gotten from the front desk, revealing two very familiar looking masks. While Cha-Cha pulled various weapons from the box Hazel stuck a familiar briefcase to Klaus and Five into the air vent of their room._

_As Hazel bitched a bit more about having to lug around the briefcase as Cha-Cha pulled out a picture of Old Man Five, talking about never going after one of their own before. Hazel and Cha-Cha briefly talked about Five’s fight a Griddy’s._

_The scene changed to Eudora and Beeman, along with other police officer’s Diego didn’t know as well, were shown surveying the destruction Five had brought upon Griddy’s. At the sight of Eudora, alive and well, Diego’s heart clenched and the air in his lungs seemed to have disappeared, knowing what would happen to her in the upcoming days._

_Eudora went to interview Agnes about what had happened during the fight between Five and the Commission foot soldiers. Only to learn that she’d already been interviewed by none other than Diego._

_As Diego was leaving through the back door of Griddy’s, he was met with a pissed Eudora. The second he saw her, taser in hand he tried to defend himself, “Hang on, let me-” only to be cut off by her tasing him, then handcuffed and chastised by Eudora about staying away from her crime scenes. Eudora confiscated several of the things Diego used in his vigilante activities, only letting him keep his mask, before shoving him into a police car._

Klaus and Ben, unsurprisingly, laughed as their brother was tased by his ex-girlfriend.

_Back at the Academy, Luther and Allison talk about the recent changes to their routines and Allison’s responsibilities before being able to see Claire again. Allison mentioned that she wanted Claire to be able to meet Luther one day._

“What about me?” Klaus asked, “Wouldn’t she want to meet Uncle Klaus?”

“Never call yourself Uncle Klaus.” Diego said.

_Back in 2019 Allison said, “When Claire was little, I used to read her books about the moon. I’d tell her her uncle was living up there.” Allison smiled as she rehashed the memory of telling her daughter about her Uncle Luther, “That he was, protecting us from harm.”_

_“Really?” Luther asked._

_“Yeah,” Allison replied, “I mean, you were her own personal superhero.”_

“I feel like we are intruding on a very personal, and intimate conversation.” Klaus said.

Ben replied with, “I have a pretty good feeling it won’t be the only one Klaus.”

_Allison further pushed the idea of Luther and Claire being able to meet each other, but rather than stay on that topic Luther moved back to their father’s missing monocle, which was by then dropped into the water by the pier and long gone._

_“Dad died because his heart gave out, Luther.” Allison said, annoyed that Luther was fixating on solving their father’s supposed murder, “Don’t turn his death into a mission.”_

“Wise woman. Listen to her Luther.” Klaus called. Allison laughed while Luther seemed to get a bit flustered.

_The scene shifted to Klaus whimpering, lying on the couch asleep as several unseen ghosts yelled both his name and various pleadings at him. As the screaming became too much for him, Klaus bolted up on the couch, only dressed in rainbow, cheetah print underwear._

Several of Klaus’s siblings, especially Luther, Diego, and Allison felt bad for the amount of shit they’d given Klaus over the years about using his powers, not knowing how terrifying and awful his powers actually were.

_Ben, sitting on another chair in the room reading a book said, “You know you talk in your sleep?”_

“Thanks Ben.”

“No problem, I’ll be here all week.”

_Klaus, slowly being about to regain his ability to breathe normally, began crawling on the floor in an obvious search for something. “There’s no point,” Ben called from his seat, “you’re out of drugs.”_

_Obviously not something Klaus wanted to hear he snapped, “Shut your piehole, Ben.”_

“Klaus! You ought to be nicer to your favorite brother.” Ben mocked.

Klaus rolled his eyes, a shit eating grin on his face as he said, “You're not my favorite brother.”

“Well then who is?”

“Diego.”

“What?!”

_Back on screen, Klaus amends what he’d just yelled at Ben, “Said with love.” and blowing him an air kiss._

_As Klaus still continues to search for any drugs he hadn’t used yet, Ben suggested, “I have a crazy idea. Why not try starting your day with a glass of orange juice or some eggs?”_

_To which Klaus bitterly yet factually replied, “Can’t smoke eggs.”_

“Have you tried?” Diego asked.

“No.” Klaus quickly denied.

While Ben, the little traitor, said, “Yes. Three times.” Earning himself a decent glare from Klaus.

_In 2019, Klaus lit a cigarette before beginning to rummage through more shelves in the house, looking for something to pawn off for likely drug money._

“Klaus!” Luther gasped, preparing to give Klaus some sort of lecture before Klaus interrupted him.

“Are we really going to act surprised every time someone, namely me, does something that isn’t necessarily a good idea?” Klaus asked.

“I mean,” Ben started, “probably.”

“M’kay. Just checking.”

_As Klaus continued his rummaging, Pogo had entered the room, questioning Klaus if he knew where some of the things that had gone missing from their father’s office had gone to._

_In yet another flashback, this one only going to the previous day, the scene showed Klaus holding the box he’d successfully swiped from their father’s office in the previous episode. What they hadn’t seen in the first episode was that Klaus emptied the box’s contents into the dumpster by their house, including a very familiar red book._

“You threw Dad’s book away?” Luther asked, even though he obviously knew the answer.

“What?” Klaus scoffed, “It’s not like he was using it.”

“Is that how Harold or Leonard or whatever the fuck his name is got it?” Allison asked.

“Maybe.” Klaus embarrassedly admitted, before quickly switching to defend himself and his actions, “How was I supposed to know that Dad had left notes about Vanya’s super secret and really cool and dangerous powers in his stupid notebook? Or that some weird stalker guy would dig through our garbage to find it? Huh?”

_With the box now emptied, Klaus went to a nearby pawn shop and was shown exiting with a handful of cash. Soon after, Klaus was handing the money had just gotten to a drug dealer in an alley. Before ending with Klaus stumbling back into the house, taking off all the clothes he’d been wearing except his underwear, before collapsing on the couch._

_Back to the next day, Klaus denied any knowledge of where the box or its contents had gone to. Which lead to Ben calling Klaus a “Liar.”_

_Klaus snarked back a “Drop dead.”_

_Which caused Ben to turn and face Klaus to say, “Low blow.”_

_“Would you shut up!” Klaus hissed back to Ben, which Pogo thought Klaus had said to him. Pogo offered to Klaus that whoever had taken the box would be free of any blame or consequences so long as the contents of the box found their way back to the office. As Pogo stared down Klaus a bit after giving such forgiveness_ , Klaus became a bit uncomfortable. His saving grace was that the scene changed to _Vanya, waking up in her apartment._

Five could feel how the scene would go, _Vanya finding him not in her apartment like she’d been expecting him to be_ , but still felt guilty for leaving as he watched it.

Instead of being at Vanya’s apartment, _Five was in Meritech’s office building, holding the prosthetic eye he’d had the previous night in Vanya’s apartment. Five seemed to be waiting for someone in the lobby as a doctor of some kind exited their office and asked Five, “Can I help you?”_

“Oh that guy.” Klaus said, seeming to remember the doctor from his later excursion with Five, “Freaking love that guy. I mean not really. But still.”

_Five simply told the man, “I need to know who this belongs to.” as he showed him the prosthetic eye._

“It is still so weird, and gross, how you just carried that eye with you for days.” Allison said, shuttering at the mere thought of having to touch the fake eye.

_The doctor, not answering Five’s request asked, “Where did you get that?”_

_“Why do you care?” Five fired back._ Ben was just happy that Five wasn’t just mean and snippy with them, but with everyone. _Realizing his brash tactic probably wouldn’t get the answer he was looking for, amended his question with, “I found it, at a playground, actually. Must have just, popped out.”_

“Ew.” Allison whined, thinking of those eyes just popping out people’s heads.

_“I wanna return it to its rightful owner.” pre-apocalyptic 2019 Five said._

“Somehow, I don’t believe those were your actual intentions Five.” Diego teased.

“Nice detective skills there Diego.” Five mocked.

_The receptionist of Meritech called Five a thoughtful young man to which Five said, “Yeah. Look up the name for me, will ya?”_

_Before the receptionist could even think about looking up the name as Five had requested, the doctor cut back in with, I’m sorry, but patient records are strictly confidential.”_

_The doctor then started to tell Five what confidential means, causing Five to snap back, “Yeah, I know what it means.” The doctor then offered to take the eye from Five and locate its rightful owner to which Five declared that the doctor wasn’t going to be touching the eye._

_The doctor started to say, “Now, you listen here, young man-”_

_Five grabbed the doctor by his tie and pulled him eye level with him, “No! You listen to me, asshole. I’ve come a long way for this, through some shit your pea brain couldn’t even comprehend, so just give me the information I need, and I’ll be on my merry way.”_

“Jesus Five. Who pissed in your corn flakes this morning?” Ben sarcastically asked.

_“And if you call me “young man” one more time,” Five hissed, “I’m gonna put your head through that damn wall.”_

“Five, do we call you old man or young man, I’m not quite sure?”

“Can it Klaus.”

_The doctor asked his receptionist to call security, no doubt to throw Five out, but before any security arrived Five left Meritech on his own._

_Jumping from Five leaving Meritech to Beeman and Eudora in the police station, going over the ballistics from the Griddy’s shoot out. The two officers talked briefly about how all of the victims in the shooting had criminal records of some kind until their conversation moved onto the knife that Five had used to stab one of the Commission recruits in the neck._

Five, just now realizing he’d left evidence of himself, fingerprints, on the knife muttered an annoyed “Shit.” to himself.

_Beeman verbalized Five’s realization, “Fingerprints on the knife don’t match our guys. But it gets weirder.”_ Five couldn’t figure out where the police officer was going, he was alway careful when out on assignments when he was with the Commission, never leaving a trace that he had been there at all. _“It did match an unsolved cold case that came back, circa, get this, 1938.”_

Five muttered another “Shit.” to himself, louder than his first one but still quiet enough that his siblings didn’t react to it, much. Because, not only did he leave fingerprints at what would become a crime scene once, but twice. And he called himself a professional.

_Patch dismissed the fingerprints matching a case from 1938, telling Beeman to have their forensics team run the prints again as Diego, still handcuffed, was brought to her desk._

“Oohh, Diego’s in trouble.” Klaus teased.

_Ignoring Diego’s questions about her case Patch began to lecture Diego, seemingly not for the first time, “The next time you interfere in one of my investigations, you so much as breathe on one of my witnesses, or touch a piece of evidence, I’ll charge you with obstruction of justice. You will do jail time. That clear?”_

“How many times have you heard that speech Diego?” Allison asked, barely containing her laughter at her brother getting lectured, by his ex-girlfriend.

“Not important.”

_2019 Diego tried to take some of the heat off himself, telling Patch that she needed to relax. Which she didn’t like, at all. Patch told Diego that “Recess is over.” and that she wouldn’t do vigilante work like Diego. Eudora dismissed Diego, telling him to leave before she changes her mind and Diego leaves with mostly compliance._

_The screen shifted to Luther arriving at the gym Diego lived/worked at. As Luther walks through the gym, looking for Diego only to not find him anywhere in the building, in Diego’s borrowed room he finds a poster, advertising Diego’s fight with someone the same night of their Father’s death._

Luther still felt a bit bad for accusing his siblings, mostly Diego, for killing their father with no solid evidence to accuse his brother of such a thing.

_Back at the mansion, Vanya is searching for Five after he’d disappeared from her apartment the night before, finding him in his bedroom. When she saw him she immediately sight, “Oh, thank God.”_ Five again was feeling upset at himself for causing his best friend and sister to worry about him because of his erratic behaviors since his return.

Klaus on the other hand yelled, “Don’t thank her. She’s an asshole.” at the screen, not realizing exactly what he’d said.

“You’ve met God?” Diego asked.

“Better question, God is a woman?” Ben also asked, except he was laughing uncomfortably as he asked his brother who had died, come back to life, and apparently met God in between.

Klaus, not wanting to get into the time he died at the rave, unsure if this show or whatever they were watching would show it anyway, just waved off his quite concerned brothers and sister.

_“I was worried sick about you.” Vanya admitted._

And Luther, Diego, and Allison were equally surprised as Vanya when _Five apologized for leaving without saying anything to their sister. Vanya then apologized for being so dismissive towards Five the night before when he’d been telling her about the impending apocalypse and some of his experience in it._

_Five, in turn, told Vanya that she may have been right to be dismissive towards him and the apocalypse. After the two talked for a bit more before Vanya left after Five claimed he was going to rest and get some sleep._

“Do you ever sleep?” Ben asked Five.

“Who needs sleep?” Five replied.

“Everyone needs sleep Five.” Allison said, “Even you. Even Diego.”

“Why am I being brought into this?” Diego asked.

“Because you and Five get the least amount of sleep in this family.”

“That would be Klaus.” Ben corrected, knowing fully well that their brother despised to sleep as his dreams would be filled with screaming specters and ghosts.

“Okay, Five and Diego choose to get the least amount of sleep.” Allison amended, which Ben nodded in agreeance to.

_Back in Five’s room, the second Vanya left the room and was, hopefully, out of earshot, Klaus tumbled out of Five’s cupboard. As he tumbled out Klaus said, “That’s so touching,” putting a hand on his heart as he said touching, “all that stuff about family and Dad and time. Wow!”_

_As Klaus mocked what Five had said to Vanya, Five told Klaus, “Would you shut up? She’ll hear you.”_

“Why wouldn’t you want Van-Van to hear ya Fiveo?” Klaus asked, knowing his brother would hate the nickname.

“Because I’d just lied to her that I was going to sleep. And if she heard you than she’d think I was lying to her.” Five reasoned.

“But you were lying to her.” Diego noted.

To which Five defended, “Yeah, but she didn’t need to know that.”

_“I’m moist.” 2019 Klaus said._

“Ew.” Ben whined, “Moist.”

_It was at this point in 2019 that Five noticed Klaus’s outfit, “I told you to put on something professional.” Five said._

_“What?” Klaus questioned, “This is my nicest outfit.”_

_Five then decided Klaus would have to wear something from their father’s closet, as the two walked from Five’s room heading towards their father’s bedroom Klaus said, Okay, but just so we’re clear on the finer details, I just gotta go into this place and pretend to be your dear old dad, correct?”_

“That’s the finer details?” Diego asked Klaus.

“It gets worse.” Five said, confusing Luther, Diego and Allison.

“Much worse.” Ben added while Klaus pointedly ignored them.

_When Five somewhat agreed to Klaus’s interpretation of his role, Klaus decided they needed a cover story, “I mean, was I really young when I had you? Like, 16? Like, young and terribly misguided?”_

“I’d hate to break it to you Klaus, but there wasn’t a need to pretend you’ve been terribly misguided.” Diego said, fighting the smirk finding its way onto his face.

“Screw you Diego.”

_“Your mother, that slut.” Klaus continued, further building his and Five’s cover story, “Whoever she was. We met at the disco.”_

“What disco were you going to in 2005?” Allison mocked.

_After a very uncomfortable conversation about the fake sex their brother had had with a pretend woman_ for everyone in the room except Klaus, _Hazel and Cha-Cha are seen torturing the man that had been shown with Five at Griddy’s which seems like forever ago at this point. Hazel and Cha-Cha still thinking the man was Five, kept asking him about his supposed previous work._

Five has surprised that _Cha-Cha was complimenting his work in ‘66 London, as much like him she didn’t give out unearned compliments_. Five also was ignoring the questions about what he did in London from his siblings.

_Syd, the tow truck driver, unknowingly ratted out to Hazel and Cha-Cha that Number Five didn’t look like the old man they’d been looking for but rather the 13 year old looking version of Five, Academy uniform and all._

Five didn’t blame the man for giving up whatever information he had about him, the jumper cables on his ears and nipples looked painful enough, not factoring in the electrical currents. He was annoyed however that the man had told them about the department store he was going to be getting Delores from.

_Back at the mansion, Allison is shown arguing with Patrick over the phone about missing one of her sessions. Allison asked to speak to her daughter while still on the phone with her ex-husband, after Patrick denies Allison’s request and hangs up the phone Allison slams the phone back into its place._

“What did that poor phone do to you to deserve that Allie?” Klaus asked, lightly mocking his sister’s frustration.

_Vanya was now at the bottom of the stairs as Allison hung up the phone. Vanya asked Allison “Are you okay?”_ , almost always the first one to offer support while rarely ever receiving any back from any of her siblings, except maybe Five.

_“Yeah.” Allison claimed, despite visibly and audibly not being okay._

_“Well,” Vanya started, “I’ve never met your ex-husband, but he sounds like an asshole.”_

“I mean, she’s not wrong.” Klaus joked while Allison was entirely uncomfortable reliving the conversation between her future self and the future version of her sister, remembering how she treated her sister who just trying to have a relationship with her only sister.

_“That’s one word for it.” Allison agreed._

_Vanya told Allison that she thought Allison might be better off at the mansion with their family than in California alone. Allison turned it on Vanya saying she was better off with her daughter._

“You get on our case about the shit we did to Vanya, and each other,” Diego said, “but you were just as bad as the rest of us Allison.”

“Back off Diego.” Luther ordered.

“Or what?” Diego challenged back, because old habits die hard.

“Would you two stop?” Ben asked, “It’s bad enough watching you guys fight with each other, especially you two,” pointing between Luther and Diego, “Do you guys have to do it here too?”

_After Allison said she was probably better off with her daughter, Vanya began apologizing for what she’d said until Allison cut her off. “You know, if I wanted advice, Vanya, no offense, it wouldn’t be from you.”_

“You know, just because you say no offense, doesn’t mean it isn’t offensive.” Klaus noted, in a much more somber tone than he had been using the past hour and a half in regards to anything his siblings had done in the future.

_“What’s the supposed to mean?” Vanya asked,_ Five honestly wanted to ask Vanya, not that he could now that she wouldn’t remember any of this, why she continuously opened herself up for her siblings, and others, to hurt her.

_Allison replied with, “You don’t have a child. I mean, you’ve never even been in a relationship.”_

Both Vanya and Klaus disagreed with Allison, “She and Diego used to have that thing remember? Until he picked us, er Dad, over her and their band?” Klaus asked.

“Stop talking Klaus.” Diego hissed.

_“So you know what it’s like to love someone like this? Like when you’re apart from her, you can’t breathe?” Allison asked her sister._

At that Diego whistled out a “Low blow Allison.”

_Allison continued, “Like you would, you would die, and I, I mean actually die to know that she’s okay and happy. I mean you separate yourself from everyone and everything. You always have.”_

Klaus couldn’t help the cringe that overcame him watching Allison ruthlessly criticizes everything their sister did.

_“Because Dad made me.” Vanya defended._

_“Did make you write that book about us, too?” Allison bit back, Vanya looked upset as Allison walk past her on her way back up the stairs, “You’re an adult now, Vanya. You don’t get to blame your problems on anyone but yourself.”_

“That was cold Allison.” Five commented.

“You guys don’t think I know I was an ass?” Allison cried, trying to fight the tears from the mix of watching herself treat her sister horribly, knowing it was a contributing factor to her sister causing the apocalypse, and her brothers’ incessant need to point out all of the faults she could see about herself to her.

_The scene thankfully, or maybe not so thankfully shifted to Klaus and Five playing father and son with the doctor back at Meritech. “Like I said to your son earlier, any information about the prosthetics we build is strictly confidential.” As the scene moved, showing Klaus and Five sitting and standing respectably across from the doctor and his desk. “Without the client’s consent,” the doctor continued, “I simply can’t help you.”_

_“Well,” Five started, his as Klaus called gremlin smirk on his face, “we can’t get consent if you don’t give us a name.”_

_After the doctor denied his role in Five’s problem of getting consent from the client without a name, Klaus asked, “And what about my consent?”_

“Oh no.” Diego said, having a pretty good feeling about where this was going.

“Oh yeah.” Klaus said, a grin on his face.

_Klaus continued on, “Who gave you permission to lay your hands on my son?”_

“Oh no.” Diego repeated, there was no reply this time but Five gave Klaus a glare Ben looked like he was still in disbelief of what was going to happen.

_“I didn’t touch your son.” The doctor denied._

_“Oh, really?” Klaus asked, “Well, then how did he get that swollen lip, then?”_

“You didn’t.” Allison gasped.

“Oh, he did.” Ben said.

_The doctor started to say, “He doesn’t have a swollen-” before Klaus punched Five in the face._ The silence that followed from his siblings was something Klaus reveled in.

_“I want it.” Klaus demanded as the doctor watched in horror and Five nursed his busted lip, “Name, please. Now.”_

_The doctor, getting over his shock, said “You’re crazy.”_

_Klaus laughed and said, “You got no idea.” Klaus picked up the snowglobe that was on the doctor’s desk that had said “Peace on Earth.” before he smashed it on his head. The doctor moved to call security on Klaus and Five, but Klaus took the phone from the doctor telling security that he had assaulted them. “Now, here’s what’s gonna happen, Grant.” The doctor’s name was actually Lance but Klaus bypassed it, “In about 60 seconds, two security guards are gonna burst through that door, and they’re gonna see a whole lot of blood, and they’re gonna wonder, “What the hell happened?” And we’re gonna tell them that you beat the shit out of us.” As Klaus told Doctor Lance what was going to happen, Five on screen seemed impressed by Klaus’s tactic to get his desired information._

_“You’re gonna do great in prison, Grant. Trust me, I’ve been there.” Klaus said._

“You’ve been to prison?” Allison asked.

“Yep.”

“What for?” Luther asked this time.

“Minor thing. Not too important. I was only there like a month or two anyway.”

_“Little piece of chicken like you.” Klaus continued, “Oh, my God, you’re gonna get passed around like a-. You’re just- You’re gonna do great. That’s all I’m saying.” It seemed that Klaus’s tactic worked because the next scene was Lance digging through his files looking for the serial number on the eye. Only to reveal that not only that the eye hadn’t been purchased yet, but it hadn’t even been manufactured._

_Moving just outside the Meritech building Five is pissed about not getting any answers while Klaus is quite proud of his performance. When Klaus asks Five about the money he had been promised, Five accuses Klaus of now knowing that apocalypse was coming and all he was concerned about was getting high. Klaus then blames Five’s uptightness with pent up horniness from being alone all those years, which lead to Five telling Klaus a little about Delores._

_As Klaus was telling Five about his longest relationship only lasting three weeks, Five jumped away into a passing cab, waving at Klaus as he went. Causing Klaus to yell about his lack of payment._

_Switching from their brother, yelling about not being paid, to their sister, practicing on her violin. As their sister was practicing a knock came from her front door. Rather than immediately answering the door, figuring it was just her neighbor looking for their cat, Vanya yelled, “He’s not here, Mrs. Kowalski.” When the knocking persisted Vanya stopped her rehearsal and moved to open the door, as she did saying, “Mr. Puddles isn’t here.”. ___

____

_When her sister opened the door and revealed the one person Allison didn’t want to see but was still expecting, her heart sank. She’d just told her sister that she’d never been in a meaningful relationship then Harold shows up, introducing himself as Leonard, and her blissfully unaware sister throws herself into this new relationship._ To summarize, Allison thinks she accidentally pushed her sister into the arms of a sociopath, set on destroying the Academy in any way possible.

____

As Leonard introduced himself there were several glares, hisses, and some boos from Klaus and Ben that spread throughout the room. _Followed by Vanya, in typical Vanya fashion, overshares a stream of consciousness then immediately apologizes._

____

Everyone was very uncomfortable as _Leonard/Harold flirted with their sister who seemed just as uncomfortable as they did. But luckily for them the scene shifted from Vanya’s apartment to the gym Luther had been at earlier._

____

_Diego was shown walking through the gym, greeting several people on his way to his room in the back. As Diego approached his room, he noticed the tripwire he’d had set on his door had been passed; so, in typical Diego fashion, he barely cracked the door open and threw one of his knives which sailed and turned through the room before nicking Luther in the ear._

____

_As Diego entered his room he said, “I could smell it was you.”_

____

_“What the hell?” Luther yelled as he pulled the knife from the dresser Diego had embedded it into, “You could have killed me.”_

____

_“If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”_

____

“That’s comforting.” Allison mocked.

____

_Diego wordlessly asked Luther for the knife back, and also wordlessly Luther handed it back. After a beat of silence between the two most hot-headed Hargreeves boys, Luther asked Diego why he didn’t tell him that he was fighting the night their father died. Diego, fairly, countered that he shouldn’t have to prove his innocence to his own family._

____

_After that Diego, nicely and indirectly, told Luther to leave after that. And without any further fighting between the two brothers, Luther left._

____

Unfortunately for the Hargreeves, they were once again subjected to having to watch _Leonard flirt with their unreceptive sister while also butchering her poor violin. “Looks like I chose the right teacher.” Leonard said._

____

_“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Vanya said._ Ben wished, now more than ever that his sister had more confidence, not only in herself but her abilities and her words. _“My next student could probably lecture me on what I’m doing wrong.”_

____

“Is her next student Five?” Klaus asked, laughing at the glare he got from his brother.

____

_“She’s,” Vanya continued, “She’s a bit of a prodigy.”_

____

_“Well, you can relax.” Leonard said_ as Klaus was silently wishing she’d do the opposite. _“I have never been a prodigy at anything.”_

____

_“Well,” Vanya sighed, “that makes two of us.”_

____

_As Vanya was setting up Leonard’s next lesson,_ her entire family wishing she’d never talk to the guy again, _Leonard asked, “Do you think it’s weird wanting to learn violin this late in life?”_

____

“Yes!” Klaus answered, “Now go away!”

____

_But clearly his sister had different feelings, “No, no. Monet didn’t really start painting until his forties. And he did alright for himself.”_ It was weird for Allison to see her sister so relaxed and joking with a complete stranger when she was so tense and nervous around them. Not that they did anything to let her feel comfortable or accepted by them.

____

_“No, if you love music, then you’re in the right place.” Vanya finished, with Leonard looking at her with such disgusting adoration._

____

_Leonard gave an awkward laugh before saying, “I’d say you’re describing my dad more than me. He was the music lover. It’s kind of why I’m here. He passed away a while ago.”_

____

“Sure,” Allison mocked, “passed away.”

____

“What do you mean?” Ben asked.

____

“Leonard, Harold, Dickface, fuckin’ murked his dad when he was like thirteen.” Klaus said, Diego told them after they found his body looking a lot like a pincushion. 

____

“He got 12 years for it.” Diego added.

____

_Vanya offered him some sympathies for his loss before Leonard said, “Oh, no, it’s fine. We had a complicated relationship. Didn’t really get each other, you know? But he loved violin, and that was not my thing.”_

____

“It's like this douchebag got the perfect manual on how to fuck with Vanya.” Klaus whined, still upset that this murder was able to get close enough to their sister to try and turn her against them.

____

“Like Dad’s journal?” Luther suggested.

____

“And her book.” Diego added.

____

“Yeah, that’d about do it.” Allison agreed.

____

_“So I guess I’m here to, understand him better, if that makes any sense. Family. It’s never easy, right?” Leonard said, and when he didn’t get the reaction he wanted from Vanya he continued, “Sorry for getting heavy on you there. Stupid, I know.”_

____

_“No.” Vanya said, “No, stupid is not knowing.”_

____

“That sounds like something Five would say.” Ben whispered to Klaus.

____

“Yeah,” Klaus whispered back, “but he’d use stupidly big words to make us feel dumber.”

____

_“Believe me, uh, I get it.” Vanya admitted._

____

_As Leonard was about to leave he told Vanya, “I have a shop in, uh, Bricktown. You should come by some time. You know, check it out.”_

____

_Instead of flat out rejecting him, like she should have, Vanya said, “This week I’m busy, but-”_

____

_“It’s fine.” Leonard said, “I understand.”_

____

“Do you now?” Klaus mocked, his disliking of Leonard/Harold growing by the second.

____

_Leonard thankfully left, not before, in a very passive aggressive way, telling their sister he was disappointed that she wasn't planning to come to his shop within the week._

____

_Later that day, Allison is shown smoking a cigarette on a windowsill of the house. As she smokes, Pogo enters the room of the window Allison was sitting in, saying “Ah, Ms. Allison. I was looking for you.”_

____

_As she tried to quickly put out the cigarette she had been smoking Allison asked, “How did you, uh. How did you know I was up here?”_

____

_“Oh, it wasn’t hard.” Pogo said as he walked closer to Allison, “This is always where you used to come when you were upset.”_

____

_“Who told you I was-” Allison started before she thought she realized, “Luther.”_

____

“Of course you thought it was Luther.” Diego muttered.

____

_“Actually, it was Ms. Vanya.” Pogo corrected, which surprised Allison, “She called to make sure you were okay.”_ Because of course she did, because that was a very Vanya thing to do. Even though Allison had been mean to her, she still wanted to make sure her sister was okay.

____

_“Yeah, I, um,” Allison started, “I said some pretty unkind things to her.”_

____

_“She’s your sister.” Pogo said, “She knows you didn’t mean it.”_ Except, she had. And that felt so much worse.

____

_“Doubt it.” Allison argued, “She doesn’t know anything about me, which is fine ‘cause I don’t know shit about her either.”_

____

_“Language.” Pogo lightly scolded._

____

_“It’s just, it’s been a while since we’ve all lived under the same roof.” Allison said._

____

_“Almost 13 years.”_

____

_“How did you do it?” Allison asked, “Alone in this huge house for so long.”_

____

_“Well,” Pogo admitted, “one grows used to things, even if, sometimes, one shouldn’t.”_

____

“How come I have a feeling he’s not talking about himself?” Ben asked.

____

“Because,” Allison answered, “he’s not.”

____

_“Come with me.” Pogo said, “I want to show you something. It might just cheer you up.” And just before they left the room he said, “And make sure you fully extinguish that cigarette. Wouldn’t want to start a fire.”_

____

_In another very familiar room, the surveillance room, Pogo tells Allison that their father stopped recording years ago. Likely about when he sent Luther to the moon. Pogo shows Allison several clips playing of them in their preteen and teen years playing and laughing together, all except Vanya._

____

_Upon seeing Vanya playing her violin by herself as the rest of her siblings were having fun, Allison asked Pogo, “Why didn’t we include her? I mean, if anybody ever treated Claire like that, I can’t even imagine.”_

____

_“You were a child, Ms. Allison.” Pogo replied._

____

_“Yeah,” Allison agreed, “but I’m not anymore. And neither is she.”_

____

_Pogo rose from his seat beside Allison in the surveillance room, “If you’re not in a hurry, the rest of the tapes are in that cabinet.” Pogo said before handing Allison a key, “Make sure you lock up when you go. Things have been disappearing lately. These are too important to lose.”_

____

_As Allison watched one of the tapes, she saw something very important, the night their father died._

____

_The screen, rather than showing them whatever Allison had seen, moved to Five at Gimbel Brothers, the department store that he got Delores from._

____

_Five meandered into the women’s section of the department store in his search for Delores. When he found her she was a whole mannequin. Upon reaching in front of her Five said, “It’s good to see you.” as if he was greeting one of his siblings and not a mannequin, “I’ve missed you, obviously. Well, I. It’s been a rough couple of days.”_

____

_As Five continued his conversation with Delores, Hazel and Cha-Cha in their cartoonish masks and massive guns slowly tried to sneak up on Five. Five just saw the two before they opened fire on him, barely dodging their array of bullets. After recognizing Hazel and Cha-Cha, Five quickly grabbed Delores, putting her in a safe place before beginning his evasion of Hazel and Cha-Cha._

____

_While plotting Five found a knife, then using said knife to cut one of Cha-Cha's shoulders. After dodging several more of Hazel and Cha-Cha’s bullets, Five found a bag to put Delores into. As he ran from Hazel, Five tried to perform one of his spatial jumps, only to learn he didn’t have enough energy yet to do one._

____

_Luckily for Five, just as Hazel and Cha-Cha were going to be able to mow him and Delores down, the cops speed into the parking lot, in response to all the gunshots. When Hazel and Cha-Cha looked back to where Five had been seconds ago, they realized he was gone._

____

“Five,” Klaus said, “if it wasn’t for the whole talking to a mannequin thing, Delores, sorry,” Klaus amended after seeing the look Five was serving him, “I’d say that was totally badass.”

____

_Back at the tow truck driver’s garage, Eudora finds Syd dead, left hanging by his hands and the jumper cables still attached. Just as Eudora reaches Syd’s body a call on the police radio gets her and Diego’s attention, shots fired at the Gimbel Brothers Department Store._

____

_Going from Diego at the gym to Allison back at the house, Allison finds Luther, after apparently looking everywhere for him. Allison tries to show Luther the footage she saw of their mother, possibly murdering their father to Luther but stop when they run into an injured Five. Offering their help, Five harshly declines saying, “There’s nothing you can do. There’s nothing any of you can do.”_

____

_In another flashback to the apocalypse, Five finds the prosthetic eyeball in Luther’s dead hand, not realizing it was in fact his brother. Then finding Diego, Allison, and Klaus, all dead._

____

The screen faded to black once more and the words ‘The End of Episode Two of Ten: Run Boy Run. Up Next, Episode Three of Ten: Extra Ordinary.”

____

“Five,” Allison started, the tension and uneasiness of seeing themselves and their siblings dead palpable in the room.

____

“Save it.” Five bit, “I don’t want your sympathy. Or your pity. There are more important things to deal with.”

____

Two down. Eight to go.

____

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My spring break is officially over, so I won't have all day to work on these chapters like I have been the past few days. 
> 
> Please let me know what you think so far.
> 
> Once again, please let me know if there are any glaring errors in this since I finished this one around 1 am.


	4. Extra Ordinary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Ben watch episode three Extra Ordinary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a small surprise at the end.
> 
> ALSO, I'm going to try and get one of these up every week.

Instead of launching into the next episode, the VHS player spit out the first tape, prompting Allison to quickly switch the first tape for the second tape. Once the new tape was in the VHS player the black screen and the text “Episode Three of Ten: Extra Ordinary.” came onto the screen.

_The first thing they were shown in the third ‘episode’ was Vanya, five years ago, finding the typewriter that she used to write her book in a pawn shop behind the comic series of her siblings. Back in her apartment, Vanya began typing away at what would become her book as a very familiar introduction to them all was narrated by their sister, “My name is Vanya Hargreeves, and this is my story.”_

“How come Vanya and Pogo get to narrate and I don’t?” Klaus whined, only half-heartedly though.

_The montage-esque showing of Vanya writing her book showed their sister working day and night as she continued to narrate the introduction of her book, “We were never a real, family. We were our father’s creation, family in name, but not in fact. In the end, after our brother Ben died,”_ Several Hargreeves did their best not to flinch at the casual reminder future Vanya had given them that Ben had died. _“There was really nothing connecting us. We were just strangers living under the same roof, destined to be alone,” As their sister continued to read from her book, the screen flashed to each of the siblings reading the book, or using the book jacket as a target_ which earned Diego a glare from Allison, _“starved for attention, damaged by our upbringing, and haunted by what might have been. We all wanted to be loved by a man incapable of giving love.”_

_The screen switched from Five in the apocalypse to their Father in the mansion before he killed himself, reading the short note Vanya had written in his copy, “Our father never missed an opportunity to remind me that I was ordinary. A hard thing for a little girl to hear. If you’re raised to believe nothing about you is special, if the benchmark is extraordinary, what do you do if you’re not?”_

Somehow for Allison, hearing her sister read her perspective of their childhood made her feel a million times worse about how the treated her before, and how they are determined to not make the same mistakes again.

_Jumping from 2014 back to 2019, Vanya was seen running into her orchestra rehearsals, late. And when she apologized to the conductor, he curtly said, “I hadn’t noticed.”_

“Screw you asshole.” Klaus yelled at Vanya’s conductor.

_Their sister scrambled to pull her violin out of the case for her rehearsal as several members and the conductor of looked annoyed with their sister, especially the woman who was sitting in front of Vanya. The conductor regathered the orchestra’s attention to begin practicing again._

_Back at the house, Allison is finally able to show Luther the footage she saw of their mother possibly killing their father. “Play it again.” Luther said._

“And here we go again.” Diego muttered, rolling his eyes. He had a pretty good guess about how this was going to go.

_“We’ve watched it over and over, Luther.” Future Allison said, “It’s the same every time.” Luther rewound the tape and was already beginning to have theories about their mother killing their father. Allison was skeptical at first of their mother’s ability to kill their father before she began wondering if she would’ve been able to._

“That lasted long.” Diego muttered.

“What was that?” Allison asked.

“Well,” Diego said, half-turning to look at Allison, “you and Number One always seemed to have shared a brain. Most of the time anyway.”

“Watch it Diego.” Luther hissed.

“Ooh,” Diego mocked, waving his hands in mock fright, “I’m so scared.”

_Back in the future, their mother is cooking breakfast for Luther and Allison. “Mom?” Luther asked, “We need to ask you some questions about the night Dad died. Do you remember anything?”_

_Their mother turned from the stove where she was cooking breakfast to look at one of her sons and one of her daughters. “Of course.” Grace said, “Sunset, 7:33 p.m. Moon was waxing crescent, dinner was Cornish hen, wild rice, and carrots.”_

_“No.” Luther cut in while Allison looked a bit uncomfortable, “No, uh, later that night. In his bedroom. Did you go and see him?”_

>Grace looked like she had to think for a moment before laughing as she said, “I don’t recall.”

Diego was utterly and entirely pissed through Luther and Allison’s investigation of their mother. How could they possibly think their mother would be capable of such a thing? But as he watched their mother not working as smoothly as she used to, he had to wonder what Pogo and their father had done to her programming to cover up her involvement in their father’s death.

_After a silent conversation between Luther and Allison, Allison continued to question their mother. “Were you ever, I don’t know, angry with Dad?”_

_Their mother didn’t answer Allison’s question, at first at least. As she finished serving Luther and Allison breakfast she said, “Your father was a good man. A kind man. He was very good to me.”_ Klaus found it a bit disturbing that their mother sounded like what someone who was a victim of domestic abuse would say in regards to their father.

_“Yes,” Allison agreed, obviously it wasn't the answer she wanted, “but after we all left, it must have been difficult.”_

_Their mother started talking about how when they all still live at home when they were children and they had always kept her busy, but as she got to when they’d left she abruptly stopped. Like she’d hit a block of some kind in her code._

_Allison and Luther tried to get their mother to finish whatever she was going to say before, but were unsuccessful._

Allison could see Diego was pissed off, probably at her and Luther, so she tried to apologize to him for ever doubting their mother, hoping that would get him to ease up a bit, it didn’t work.

“Save it Allison,” Diego bit, “I don’t care.”

_Switching Luther and Allison at the mansion to Eudora and Diego at Gimbel Brothers Department Store, surveying the results of Five’s shootout with Hazel and Cha-Cha. Eudora and Diego bickered a bit about the semantics of their collaborative investigative efforts in the past 24 hours. “In the span of 24 hours, I’ve had attacks in three different places across town.” Eudora said, “Whatever this is, whoever this is, they’re not slowing down. So, if you really give a shit and you’ve got any fresh ideas, I’m all ears.”_

“Oh, how the tables have turned.” Klaus said, sounding quite triumphant on Diego’s behalf.

_Future Diego seemed a bit surprised that Eudora was actually asking for his help, but he covered it well. “The guy’s kid, in the doughnut shop?” Diego suggested._

“If only you’d know it was little Number Five.” Klaus noted, “Would’ve saved you both quite a bit of time.”

_It seemed that Eudora had already thought about that loose end, “I’ve got units tracking the extended family in case anyone goes after him.”_ Diego felt guilty every time he saw Eudora on the screen, how he’d been responsible for her death. If he hadn’t been with Five and Luther when she’d called when she’d found Klaus they she might’ve never died.

_“Well,” Diego countered, “this place must have surveillance footage.”_

_But obviously, Eudora already checked, “No, it doesn’t exist. The first unit on the scene clocked two shooters fleeing the premises, wearing, get this, creepy kids’ masks.”_

“You have no idea how much we get that sweetheart.” Klaus called, followed by being nailed in the face with a pen, “Ow, what the hell Diego?”

“Don’t call her sweetheart.”

“But-”

“Don’t.”

_Diego and Eudora bickered/flirted, sometimes it was hard to tell, with each other for a bit more before the screen switched back to Vanya at her rehearsal. Specifically, in the women’s restroom._

The Umbrella Academy watch as _their sister meekly approached the woman who’d been sitting in front of her during their rehearsal earlier. “Helen.” Vanya said, “You were great today. Really, really great.”_

_Helen, not giving their sister the time of day, curtly replied, “Thanks.”_

_Their sister, not picking up on the cues Helen had been giving her continued, “It’s those runs in the Stravinsky. I’ve been hacking at them for weeks, and you just-”_

_“-Make them look easy?” Helen guessed._

_An awkward beat of silence fell between the two as Vanya seemed a bit embarrassed while Helen seemed annoyed. That is until Helen asked, “What’s your name again?”_

_“Vanya.” Their sister answered._

_“Vanya.” Helen repeated, “And how many years have you been stuck at third chair?”_

“What the hell is this chick’s problem?” Allison asked, being quite protective of her sister.

_“At a certain point,” Helen continued as Vanya looked more and more defeated, “it’s not about practice. It’s whether you’ve got something special.”_

“Don’t you do it.” Klaus hissed, all amusement from teasing Diego earlier gone.

_“And maybe you just,” Helen said, “don’t.”_

“Fuck you!” Klaus yelled, throwing the pen Diego had thrown at him at Helen, which bounced off Helen’s face.

Obviously not knowing what the Hargreeves siblings, mostly Klaus, had been yelling at her, _Helen continued, “You can put in your 10,000 hours, or, you can go find something you’re actually passionate about and stop slogging away at Stravinsky like a scared 13-year-old.” And with that Helen left Vanya in the bathroom to think over what she’d said._

_The scene switched from Vanya taking one of her stupid pills in the bathroom to Cha-Cha burning her knife wound from Five with a curling iron._ As Allison and Klaus watched Cha-Cha purposefully burn her harm with a curling iron, both could barely suppress the cringe crawling over them as Five and Ben were quite happy with Five’s handy work, for different reasons of course.

_Hazel and Cha-Cha bickered a bit over some home renovation show until there was a very familiar thunk heard for Five. In their hotel room’s bathroom, Cha-Cha pulls a message out of a tube from the wall behind some tiles in the shower. Their message relayed a payment reduction, causing Five to laugh for a moment, finding even more joy in their despair in not being able to terminate him._

_Switching from Hazel and Cha-Cha in their hotel room to Five in his bedroom, stitching his grazed gunshot wound back together himself._ “What the hell Five?” Allison asked, in what Klaus called pure mom energy, “Why didn’t you have one of us help you?”

“Or mom?” Ben added, knowing he wouldn’t’ve been of any help to his brother before but there had been plenty of people around him that could have.

“Irrelevant.” Five hissed, ignoring anymore looks or questions his siblings had for him.

_Once Five finished dressing his wound, changing his clothes, and securing Delores in his bag, Five pushed open his window and began his descent down the fire escape. As Five walked out to the fire escape, Klaus could be seen rummaging through the dumpster, obviously looking for something._

_“Damn it, where’s Dad’s stuff?” Klaus whined, seemingly to himself, oblivious to Five watching him._

“You’re an idiot.” Five told his brother.

“Agreed.” Diego said as Ben nodded.

“I have never been so attacked in my life.” Klaus gasped, pressing one of his hands to his chest.

Ben apparently disagreed with Klaus’s statement as he said, “Klaus-”

“Can it Ben.”

_Future Ghost Ben asked Klaus, “Can we go see a movie or something? Or the ocean?”_

“You’re so helpful.” Klaus told his brother mockingly.

“Thank you!”

_“Shut up!” Future Klaus hissed, “I’m trying to find whatever, priceless crap was in that priceless box so that Pogo will get off my ass!”_

_As Klaus hissed to Ben about his situation, Five climbed down the ladder of the fire escape. “I’d ask what you’re up to, Klaus,” Five said, “but then it occurred to me, I don’t care.”_

“Rude!” Klaus whined. To which Five shrugged.

_“You know there are easier ways of out the house, buddy?” Future Klaus told his brother._

_“This one involved the least amount of talking.” Five said, hopping off the ladder, “Or so I thought.”_

_Klaus asked Five if he needed any more help today, obviously looking for an excuse to stop digging through the dumpster in search of the book that wasn’t going to be there. Which Five declined. Klaus claimed he could do his search anytime, saying he just misplaced something, but when he popped up with half eaten doughnut_ , every one of his siblings gagged a bit. And gagged again when he took a bite out of the dumpster doughnut.

“That is so gross Klaus.” Allison said.

Klaus waved her off, “The past is the past.”

_Five left their brother in a dumpster, eating ‘his’ doughnut, claiming he just wants to spend time with his brother. Clarified as Five, not Ben. Further down the alley, as Klaus’s proclamations fell on Five’s deaf ears, Five stole some plumber’s van for his stakeout._

“Five!” Allison hissed.

Five repeated Klaus’s excuse from before, “The past is the past.”

_The van was shown waiting across the street from Meritech as Doctor Lance was seen entering the building. Realizing Delores was still in the bag, Five began pulling her out. “Hey. Sorry you were in there for so long, Delores. No, I’m not drunk. I’m working. Yes, it’s about the eye thing. This is the place it was made. Or, will be made. We just have to wait.”_

“Five,” Ben said, “we love you, but you look fucking insane talking to Delores like that.” Five just shrugged, eyes glued to Delores on screen.

_Switching back to Luther and Allison at the mansion, their discussion about mom. “I don’t like this any more than you do, but she’s hiding something.” Luther said._

Klaus narrowed his eyes and said, “That sounds familiar.”

“She’s hiding something?” Ben asked.

“No.” Klaus said, “The first part. When he-”

“-Oh yeah. Yikes.” Ben finished.

Allison gave Luther a glare as Five for once was just confused. “What? What happened? What did Luther do?”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll see later Five.” Klaus said.

_“Hiding?” Future Allison questioned, “To me, she just sounded confused.”_

_“Well, uh.” Luther faltered, not expecting Allison to disagree with him, “You saw the tape. Grace knew what she was doing.”_

_“Grace?” Allison asked, “This morning, she was Mom.”_

_“She’s a machine, Allison.”_ Luther was then the second person to be nailed in the face with a pen from Diego.

_“Who read to us and cleaned up after us and put us to bed.” Allison countered_ , who was definitely earning some brownie points in Diego’s book. _“And then we left her here, alone, in his house for 13 years. I mean, no wonder she lost her mind.”_ All brownie points lost. _“To be away from your kids?”_

_Once more, Allison and Luther talked about Allison’s custody change over Claire, more specifically what happened to make her lose custody of her daughter. Declaring that Allison was starting her life over after realizing just about everything she had was due to her powers._

_Moving from Luther and Allison at the mansion to Vanya outside a woodwork shop. Leonard’s woodwork shop. Vanya seemed like she was about to walk away from the shop when Leonard approached,_ with a hiss from Klaus. _“You’re still looking for Mr. Puddles.” Was the first thing Leonard said._ And if Leonard wasn’t a sociopath, Klaus might’ve said they would’ve been cute together. But he was, so they weren’t.

_“I got out of rehearsal and was in the neighborhood, so I thought-” Vanya started._

_“Came all the way to Bricktown?” Leonard asked, skeptical about Vanya’s reasoning but happy nonetheless. Vanya shrugged lamely and Leonard continued, “Well, since you’re here, you might as well come in.” Leonard unlocked his shop and had Vanya enter before him._

_Vanya complimented the works he had on display in his shop, as he walked to the back of his shop where he ‘played with other things’ such as a ballerina and several ducks. Leonard pulled another work out from where he’d been storing it, a wooden figurine of Vanya with her violin._

“Creepy.” Klaus called.

_Moving outside, Leonard is walking with Vanya, presumably back to her place. “This is so bizarre.” Vanya said,_ which several Hargreeves agreed with for a very different reason, _“We’ve known each other for, two days? I feel like you know me better than anyone in my family.”_

“Ouch.” Allison said, not being able to disagree though, sadly.

_“This might be a little inappropriate, seeing as I’m your impressionable young student, but would you want to have dinner with me tonight?” Leonard asked._

“No. Go away.” Klaus yelled at Leonard.

_When Vanya didn’t immediately respond Leonard continued, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”_ But instead of listening to her siblings in 2001, _Vanya agreed to dinner with Leonard, just before Allison walked over to them._

_“Allison?” Vanya asked, not really believing her sister would be with her over one of their brothers._

_“Hey.” Allison said back lamely._

_Leonard feigned confusion when Allison showed up, causing Vanya to introduce the pair, “Leonard, this is my sister, Allison.” Leonard pretended to vaguely remember Allison from some movie that she was a lawyer in a wheelchair._

_As Leonard gushed about Allison being a movie star, Vanya seemed to retreat back into her shell, “You were in that Umbrella thing, too, weren’t you?” Leonard asked,_ getting a scoff from Diego and an eye roll from Five, both knowing about the weird-ass shrine he had in his attic. _“But you weren’t in that, were you?” Leonard asked Vanya._ Another pen bounced off the screen, having landed right between his eyes.

_“No, uh.” Vanya said, “I was sort of the fifth Beatle of the family, so-”_

_Leonard, seeing his chance said, “I never really liked the Beatles. More of a Stones guy, myself.”_

“How do you not like The Beatles?” Klaus asked.

“That's not what he’s saying Klaus.” Ben replied.

“Well, it sure sounds like it.”

“It’s a metaphor. We’re the Beatles. He doesn’t like us.”

“Oohh.”

_Allison was visibly uncomfortable with whatever was going on between Leonard and Vanya, “Um, I’m sorry to interrupt, but, could you come back to the house? We’re having a family meeting.”_

_“And you guys want me there?” Vanya asked,_ and Allison remembered the unofficial family meeting the didn’t invite her to and barely suppressed her flinch at the memory.

_“Of course.” Allison replied, “It’s about mom.”_

_Vanya began apologizing to Leonard which he brushed off, saying she didn’t need to be, he offered Vanya a raincheck on their dinner which Vanya nodded to._

“Ugh, does he have to be such a charmer?” Klaus whined, no wonder his sister fell for him. When some guy comes out of nowhere and showers you in compliments, it's hard to not fall for him; Klaus has been there, a few times.

_As Leonard left Allison asked Vanya, “Who’s the guy?”_

_“He’s a,” Vanya replied, “just a friend.”_

_“Friend?” Allison repeated._

_“No, it’s not.” Vanya said, “Maybe I’m trying to not separate myself from everything and everyone.”_

“Get her sister!” Klaus cheered before apologetically saying, “Sorry Allie.”

_“I’m, I’m sorry.” Allison said, “I shouldn’t have said those things to you yesterday. I was angry with Patrick, and I took it out on you. I’m really sorry.” Vanya gave Allison a somewhat disbelieving look, pushing her sister to continue, “I’m not good at this whole sister thing.”_

_Vanya replied with, “I hadn’t noticed.”_

“Oof.” Klaus joked.

_“Ouch.” Allison said, both sisters having ghosts of smiles on their faces, “Tell me how you really feel.”_

_“Maybe I will.” Vanya said._

“Damn, okay. Go off sis.” Klaus said, surprised at the amount of sass coming from his sister.

_“Okay!” Future Allison said, laughing as she did._

_As Allison and Vanya started walking back to the mansion, the scene switched to Five and Delores on their stakeout of Meritech._

_Sitting in his van, Five was fiddling with the prosthetic eye as he watched the actually ordinary people go about their lives, unaware of what was to come. For a moment while he was watching some children play together with a ball, Five thought he was back in the apocalypse._

“Five.” Allison started, the mom and sister in her wanting Five to talk about the shit he went through in the apocalypse.

“Don’t Allison.” Five grunted.

Not letting him weasel his way out of the conversation this time, Allison persisted, “Five, you need to talk about this.”

Five knew his sisters far better than they thought he did. And realizing he wouldn’t be completely getting out of talking about his time in the apocalypse, Five said, “We can talk about that later.”

_Back in Five’s delusional flashback of the apocalypse, Luther’s voice could be heard calling their brother’s name. Luther calling Five’s name and knocking on the window of the van pulled Five out of his delusion. Five was a bit out of it, regaining his footing of where and when he was, as Luther climbed into the passenger seat and at some point Klaus climbed into the back of the van. When asked how Luther found Five, Luther nodded back to Klaus who was flirting with Delores. Which earned him having Five throw an empty coffee cup at him._

_Ignoring most of his brothers’ bickering, Luther told Five, “So, Grace may have had something to do with Dad’s death. So I need you to come back to the academy, all right? It’s important.”_ Allison scoffed and Diego glared at Luther when his future self referred to their mother as Grace again.

_“‘It’s important.’ You have no concept of what’s important.” Five sneered, and only getting more annoyed the longer his brothers were with him._

_Klaus started to tell Luther and Five a story about when he waxed his ass with chocolate pudding, which resulted in him getting kicked out of the van. After Klaus got out of the van, not without moaning about it first, Luther and Five bickered for a bit about what was actually important and who should be listening to who. Luther pulled his ‘I’m the leader’ card and Five pulled his ‘I’m older than you’ card._

_Luther told his brother that Five had always thought he was better than the rest of them, ever since they were kids. To which Five replied, “I don’t think that I’m better than you, Number One. I know I am.”_

“Damn Five.” Diego whistled.

_As Five and Luther continued to bicker, Klaus ran out of a mini-mart that he’d just stolen from, yelling “Hey, bitches!” at his brothers as he passed._ Several of the Hargreeves, including Klaus, laughed at his antics.

_The scene switched to Hazel and Agnes at Griddy’s, talking about doughnuts. Hazel seemed to be waiting for someone, presumably Cha-Cha. Agnes was explaining to Hazel how she makes the doughnuts every day as Hazel flirted with her._

“True OTP.” Klaus whispered to Ben, who nodded in agreeance with a small laugh.

_Cha-Cha came out of the restroom, rejoining Hazel at the counter. Hazel, knowing Cha-Cha would be upset that he wasn’t doing his job began their questioning of Agnes, “Is there anything that you might be able to tell us about the night that this place got shot up?”_

_Agnes seemed hesitant to tell them anything, informing them that she’d already told the police everything. Ignoring Agnes’s reservations, Cha-Cha persisted, “Do you remember the boy from that night?”_

_Thankfully, Agnes didn’t much information about Five, having not paid him too much attention, but she did remember that he had the Umbrella Academy tattoo on his wrist._ “Shit.” Five hissed, he’d gotten really careless in his old age, he’d have to work on that.

_The screen switched from Agnes drawing the Umbrella Academy tattoo to Luther and Allison showing Diego, Klaus, unknowingly Ben, and Vanya the footage of their mother possibly killing their father._

_“I mean,” Vanya questioned, “do you really think Mom would hurt Dad?”_

_Luther, obviously not expecting Vanya of all his siblings to question him snapped back, “You haven’t been home in a long time, Vanya.”_ Which earned him getting hit in the shoulder by Allison. _“Maybe you don’t know Grace anymore.”_

_“If he was poisoned,” Diego countered, “it would have shown on the coroner’s report.”_

_“Well,” Luther snapped, annoyed that two of his siblings were disagreeing with him after his argument with Five, “I don’t need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes.”_

“Because the coroner wouldn’t know what they're talking about.” Klaus mocked.

_Future Diego shared a similar sentiment, “Maybe all that low gravity in space messed with your vision.” Diego rewound the video to show Luther something he’d apparently missed when he’d watched it over and over again, “Look closer. Dad has his monocle. Mom stands up. Monocle’s gone.” Diego then walked back towards the couch, away from Luther and the screen, “She wasn’t poisoning him. She was, taking it. To clean it.”_

_“Then where is it?” Luther challenged, “No, I’ve searched the house, including her things. She doesn’t have it.”_

_“That’s because I took it from her.” Diego said, looking not as confident as he usually did._

“Oh yeah!” Klaus said as he remembered what had happened in the first ‘episode’, “And you dropped it in the water! At the pier!”

_“After the funeral.” Diego continued, now holding one of his knives._

_“You’ve had the monocle this whole time?” Allison questioned, “What the hell, Diego?”_

_“Give it to me.” Luther demanded, sticking out his hand for the monocle._

_“I threw it away.” Diego admitted, “Look, I knew that if you found it on Mom, you’d lose your shit, just like you’re doing now.”_

“Got ’em.” Klaus laughed.

_“Diego, you son of a bitch.” Luther hissed._

“Luther, you know we’re all bastards right?” Five laughed, sometimes he couldn’t believe that this was the family he was given.

_“Hey. No.” Vanya said, trying to mediate the two brothers who were the least likely to listen to her, “Calm down. Look, I know Dad wasn’t exactly an open book. But I do remember one thing he said. Mom was, well, designed to be a caretaker, but also a protector.”_

“Good job Van-Van!” Klaus cheered.

_When Allison asked Vanya what that meant she continued, “She was programmed to intervene if someone’s life was in jeopardy.” At that Luther suggested that if their mom’s hardware was degrading that they should turn her off which Diego strongly disagreed with._

_Their group turned the discussion of turning off their mother into a vote. Allison and Luther for turning her off, unknowingly with Ben voting to turn her off as well as Diego, Klaus, and Vanya voted to keep her on. Allison decided that the vote was final until Five voted._

“Leave her on asshole.” Five said, casting his vote.

_Diego and Vanya saw their mother listening to their debate as Luther, Diego tried to comfort their mother but she went off to bake cookies after seeing her children's’ distress._

_“Do you ever wonder,” Vanya started, “All those moments with Mom, the things she said. Like, was it her, or was it really Dad?”_

_Diego, obviously not liking Vanya’s implication, leaned closer to her and asked, “What are you talking about?”_

“God.” Klaus whined, “Is anyone else getting a lot of sexual tension between them? Or is it just me?”

“Never say that again Klaus.” Ben sighed, not wanting to know if any of his other siblings claimed to have felt what Klaus sensed.

_“Well, he built her.” Vanya reasoned, “And her programmed her to be a mom, to be our mom. Sometimes when I look at her, I just him.”_

_“Maybe that was true at first.” Diego agreed._

“Holy shit.” Klaus practically yelled, “Did Diego and Vanya just agree on something?” Getting a glare from Diego in return.

“They literally just agreed about what to do with mom.” Allison countered.

Klaus waved her off and continued, “Yeah, but no one else was around for that second one.”

“Klaus, shut up.” Diego said, sending another pen to hit Klaus’s forehead.

_“But she evolved.” Future Diego continued._

_Vanya, in turn, asked, “Well, how do you know?”_

_“Because Dad only loved himself.” Diego said with a smirk before walking off. After Diego left Vanya took another one of her pills as Pogo, unknowingly, watched on from the balcony._

_Following Diego back to his room, the Hargreeves are treated to another flashback of their childhood. The six of them are scrambling to get ready for a mission, their father is barking out orders and telling them how slow they are getting ready, Vanya is practicing her violin while ignoring the blaring siren, and their mother is helping her children get ready. Helping Allison find her mask, complimenting Vanya’s violin practice, putting out a fire in Klaus’s room as he jumps on the bed, helping Ben with a stuck zipper, and helping Diego with his stutter._

Watching their mother help her brother with his stutter made Allison feel like an absolute ass for trying to get their mother shut down, not realizing how special their mother is to her brother.

_Just after coming out of Diego’s flashback, their mother is working on some needlepoint by her paintings as Diego approaches her. “Mom, we need to talk.” Diego said._

_“Okay,” Their mother agreed, “but only for a minute. I need to finish this cross-stitch.”_

_“Everything you did for us when we were kids, for me, why’d you do it?” Diego asked, clearly Vanya’s suggestion from earlier was on his mind._

_Grace turned a bit and looked at Diego, “Because being your mother is the greatest gift of my life.”_

_Diego continued questioning their mother about the sincerity of her actions towards them when they were kids and now, becoming more upset as she genuinely answered him. Diego became upset that their mother continued to defend their father despite the horrible treatment she got from him, before storming off as their mother observed her paintings._

_Back with Five and Delores at their stakeout, Five spots Doctor Lance nervously putting a large suitcase into a waiting car in exchange for an envelope, and Five wonders what he is up to._

_Jumping back to the Academy, Hazel and Cha-Cha are waiting outside, ensuring that the drawing Agnes gave them matched the ones adorning the doors of the Academy._ Five of the six Hargreeves in the room remembered the ensuing fight, and kidnapping, that would happen while Five was a mix of nervous and scared for his family.

_Hazel blew the lock off the door of the Academy after finding the door locked. The two highly trained agents entered their home, all Hargreeves unaware. While Hazel and Cha-Cha are in their living room looking at Five’s portrait, Klaus is trying to enjoy a bubble bath as best he can while spirts scream at him._

Several Hargreeves felt like shit, again, for how they treated their brother about his unwillingness to use his powers and by extent drug problem, without really knowing how badly they fucked him up.

_Hazel and Cha-Cha are seen walking through the Academy, into their bedrooms, past the bathroom Klaus was in, and several others, not being able to find any Hargreeves. Luther was shown sitting in the same window Allison had been in the previous episode, which is where Allison found him looking at the moon. The two talked about Luther’s time on the moon as two assassins walked though their house._

_Diego’s stomping through the house was heard by Hazel and Cha-Cha, alerting them that someone was in the house. The two put on their kid’s masks and aimed the guns at Diego down the hallway from them before opening fire on him. Alerting the rest of the Hargreeves to their presence, well, all except Klaus._

_The two followed Diego through the house, shooting at anything that moved while their mother didn’t react to any of the gunfire and continued working on her cross-stitch from earlier. Soon after, Luther and Allison arrived in the living room to help Diego with Hazel and Cha-Cha._

_Luther easily threw both Hazel and Cha-Cha out of the living room followed by bickering with Diego about his control of the situation, before Cha-Cha opened fire on them, Hazel having lost his gun from Allison kicking it out off his hands. As Cha-Cha followed after one of the Hargreeves, Hazel found a mace in a nearby cabinet to replace his lost gun._

_While Hazel was inspecting his new weapon, Vanya called, “Hello?” gaining the attention of Hazel._

“Fuck.” Klaus muttered.

_“Guys?” Vanya continued, unaware of the danger she was putting herself in, “Is everyone okay? Hello?” Vanya was walking towards their living room, Hazel was hidden in the room waiting for her.”Guys?” Vanya wandered into the living room and there was no sign of Hazel,_ which was unnerving, even for the three who knew what was going to happen. 

_Then, seemingly out of nowhere Hazel swung the mace which Vanya dodged but couldn’t get out of the way of his backhand and landed in the coffee table._ Five was more pissed off than he thought he’d ever be able to be. His literally defenseless, apocalypse causing sister had been attacked by two assassins sent after him and he hadn’t been there to protect her, or any of the members of his family.

“Wouldn’t it be ironic, if they were sent to stop Five from stopping the apocalypse, but bear dude accidentally killed V, therefore stopping the apocalypse?” Klaus pondered, receiving no verbal response from any of his siblings, but did get glares from three of his siblings.

_“Hey, asshole.” Luther said, pulling Hazel’s attention from their sister to himself. Luther and Hazel traded blows in both hand to hand and with the weapon._

_As his brothers and sister fought throughout the house, Klaus danced through the hallways of the mansion with his headphones on, oblivious to all things happening around him._

_Allison lead Cha-Cha down to their kitchen, she grabbed a cue off the pool table and used it to trip Cha-Cha as well as effectively knocking the gun from her hands. Cha-Cha took the now broken cue and was using them to try and hit Allison with, most of which she was blocking. Diego walked into the kitchen, coming from somewhere, and asked his sister, “You wanna rumor this psycho?”_

_“I don’t need to,” Allison replied, wiping some blood from her lip, “because this bitch just pissed me off.”_

“Look Allison, as much as I love watching you try to beat that lady’s ass, using your power wouldn’t be the worst idea.” Klaus said, trying his best not to sound like he was making fun of his sister who could absolutely beat his ass if she wanted to.

_“We just want the boy.” Cha-Cha said, obviously not wanting to fight the Hargreeves siblings._

_“Oh,” Allison said, “well, in that case.” before continuing her fight with Cha-Cha, now joined by Diego in her efforts. Allison pulled a clay knife out of some art supplies that had been left on a table and handed it to Diego as Cha-Cha tried to escape, “Get her.” Allison said. Diego threw the knife and it embedded itself in the back of Cha-Cha’s leg. Diego and Allison followed her upstairs shortly after._

_Back in Klaus’s room, he continues dancing as Ben tries to get their brother’s attention unsuccessfully. ___

____

_Luther’s fight with Hazel was going about as well as Allison and Diego’s had been going with Cha-Cha. As Hazel picked up Luther he yelled to his sister, “Vanya, get out of here!” Rather than leave the Academy, Vanya, visibly dazed, moved to try and hide from the attackers in the house. During the fight, Luther had managed to gain the upper hand from Hazel but when he moved to check on Vanya, no longer seeing her through the doorway, Hazel jumped him from behind and flipped him backwards._

____

_Hazel left Luther, unmoving, in the foyer of the house and moved back to the living room where Vanya was still hiding. Hazel barely crossed the threshold of the living room, looking for Vanya but, thankfully, not being able to find her hiding mere feet from him. When he couldn’t find their sister he returned to their bedrooms._

____

_As he left, Allison and Diego found Luther lying on the floor of the foyer while Cha-Cha is seen on the balcony above them. Allison and Diego manage to pull Luther to his feet just as Cha-Cha releases the chain that had been holding the chandelier above the three Hargreeves, Luther noticing Cha-Cha pushed his brother and sister out of the way of the falling chandelier, letting it land on him as Cha-Cha got away._

____

_Luther pulled himself out from under the chandelier, which pulled of the coat he’d been wearing to hide the fur that had grown on him. Watching his future self’s half ape body be exposed,_ present Luther curled in on himself a bit, ignoring the look Allison was giving him.

____

_Back in 2019, Diego, Allison, and Vanya were shocked by what had happened to Luther, more so what he now looked like without his coat. Klaus felt a shiver run up his spine at seeing his brother looking like that, remembering the rave in the next few days. Luther, realizing his siblings saw how he looked now, retreated upstairs without another word._

____

_Allison, realizing she wouldn’t be able to get anywhere with Luther at the moment, moved her attention to her sister, but before Allison said anything Vanya asked her, “Did you know?” which Allison denied, sounding a bit in shock and disbelief of what she’d just witnessed._

____

_As his sisters talked, Diego could hear their mom humming to herself. He followed where he thought the humming was coming from and found their mother in the same spot he’d talked to her at before, in front of her paintings._ Luther and Allison in the present were surprised to see their mom was still functioning after the attack, since they had thought those freaks were the ones who shut her off, and Diego let them. _He asked if she was okay, and when she said she was he asked her if she heard all the noise. Which she claimed to not have heard._

____

_Diego, realizing something was wrong with their mother, especially when she accidentally sewed through her skin while working on her needlepoint, came to the realization of what he had to do, for her sake. He took one of his knives and cut open her arm, then he found a button on the inside of her arm that powered her off._

____

The tension in the room was palpable. Allison didn’t bother hiding her glare for Diego from any of her brothers which piqued the interest of Klaus, Five, and Ben, who didn’t know what had happened before. “I can’t believe you did that.” Allison hissed, Diego didn’t even bother lifting his eyes from the spot he’d focused on on the floor. “You were the one campaigning for us to leave her on and you just turned her off.”

____

“Shut up Allison. You don’t think I know what I did?” Diego snapped back, not wanting to hear his sister criticizes anything he did to their mother in order to protect her from them, “Do you have any idea how hard it is to see her again, knowing how much she cares about us and what I did to her?

____

No one wanted to further the conversation Allison and Diego were having, so the six of them silently returned their attention to the screen where Allison was talking with Vanya.

____

_“Who were those people?” Vanya asked._

____

_“I don’t know.” Allison admitted, “But we are lucky to be alive.” Noticing her sister wince at the cut on her head Allison asked, “You sure you’re okay?” which Vanya nodded to just as Diego stormed in the room just after shutting off their mom._

____

_Allison, noticing her brother’s odd behavior, asked, “Diego?”_

____

_Rather than answer the sister that questioned him, he started to yell at the other. “What are you still doing here?”_

____

_Vanya nervously said in return, “I’m just trying to help.”_

____

_“No,” Diego yelled, taking a few angry steps towards his sister, “you could’ve been killed. Or gotten any of us killed.” Turning his attention from Vanya to Allison, Diego continued, “She is a liability.”_

____

_“Allison?” Vanya asked, silently pleading with her sister to say she wasn’t._

____

_Instead of disagreeing with what Diego told her sister, Allison tried to put it in nicer terms, “I think what he’s trying to say is that this kind of stuff is dangerous. You’re just-”_

____

_“Not like you.” Vanya finished, knowing far too well where the conversation was going to go. And at that Vanya left the mansion, ignoring her sister’s pleas after her for her to stay._

____

_“Let her go.” Diego said, “It’s for the best.”_

____

In the present, Allison asked Diego, “Do you have to be such an asshole?” 

____

“You’re the one that let her leave.” Diego countered.

____

“Would you two stop?” Ben yelled, “I thought Luther and Diego would be the two fighting with each other, not you two. And guess what we’re all assholes, to each other, to Vanya, to everyone who’s ever shown us that they care about us because we didn’t know how to show them that we cared too. So rather than screaming at each other over things we can’t change now, just shut the hell up.”

____

As yet another awkward silence befell their group, they turned their attention back to the tv. _Back on the screen, Luther had finally reached his room. While Vanya was shown just getting out of a cab, noticeably not in front of her apartment building._

____

All of the Hargreeves recognized the house Vanya had gone to. Leonard Peabody’s/Harold Jenkins’s. _Who upon opening the door was immediately concerned about the head wound Vanya had. Upon seeing the surprise on his face, Vanya began doubting her choice in going to his place rather than her, saying she didn’t know where else to go. Leonard brought her into his house as a thunderstorm roared outside before the scene switched to Hazel back at their hotel._

____

_Cha-Cha entered the hotel room as Hazel snacked on a doughnut, upon entering with a noticeable limp, that Diego was quite proud of, she immediately asked him, “Where the hell were you?”_

____

_“When you didn’t come out, I figured we’d just regroup here.” Hazel excused._

____

_“And you stopped,” Cha-Cha replied, annoyance heavy in her voice, “to get a jelly doughnut?”_

____

_“Maybe.”_

____

_“After everything we just went through?” Cha-Cha asked._

____

_“Well, I needed some comfort food after that disaster.”_

____

_“Well, tonight’s a total loss.” Cha-cha moaned._

____

_Hazel countered that statement with, “Well, I’m not so sure about that.”_

____

_The scene changed from inside their hotel room to their car parked outside. Hazel opened the trunk to reveal a bound, gagged, and practically naked Klaus who began screaming._

____

The screen switched to a familiar black screen that read, ‘The End of Episode Three of Ten: Extra Ordinary. Up Next Episode Four of Ten: Man On The Moon’

____

Just as the black screen appeared on the screen a knock came at the door of their father’s office. Before anyone said anything Five jumped to the door and opened it just enough to reveal a very anxious Vanya on the other side, “Hi Five.”

____

“Hi V, what’s up?” Five asked.

____

“Why’s he so much nicer to her than us?” Klaus whispered to Ben, earning an elbow to his side.

____

“Um,” Vanya said, her eyes bouncing between each of her siblings before landing on the floor by Five’s feet, “Mom wanted me to tell you guys that lunch is going to be ready in about an hour and she wants to know if you guys want to eat in here or if you guys want to go to the dining room.”

____

Without asking what any of his siblings thought, Five told Vanya that they’d meet her and their mother in the dining room in an hour for lunch. “I guess that settles that.” Klaus said, before Five jumped next to him just after closing the door, flicked him in the ear, then jumped back to his seat.

____

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING!
> 
> Please let me know what you think so far.
> 
> Once again, please let me know if there are any glaring mistakes that I've missed.


	5. Man On The Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Ben watch episode four Man On The Moon.

The, at this point annoyingly, familiar black screen with the text “Episode Four of Ten: Man On The Moon” was on the screen before it faded into the scene. Luther shifted a bit uncomfortably in his seat, having a pretty good feeling of what the next ‘episode’ was going to show him and his siblings.

_Instead of showing them something from 2019, like most of them had been expecting, the screen showed them a Luther, seven years earlier, before he’d spent years on the moon; doing nothing of importance, because of their Father. Their brother was shown walking through a very empty house, looking in on Allison’s unoccupied room, then Klaus’s emptied room which had more space from before due to someone tearing down the wall between Klaus’s room and Vanya’s room._

From the glares he was getting from Five and Allison, Klaus knew he should at least try to defend himself, “It’s not like she was using it! She’d already moved out.”

“Klaus,” Ben cut in, before one of their more, emotional, siblings could yell st him, “Vanya didn’t move out.”

“Huh?”

“Dad shipped her off to boarding school.” Ben finished.

“Some school in Paris or some shit.” Diego hissed, throwing one of his knifes just beside the portrait of their father that hung in his office.

Allison sent him an incredulous look, “And how did you know that?”

“She told me.”

“And college.” Five added, “It was also in her book,” he continued, disregarding the looks Klaus and Allison were sending his brother, who may or may not have a slight blush on his face, “You all would’ve known that if you’d read more than just your part.”

The awkward and tense silence that feel over the siblings at the mentioning of the book, and the way Five continued to talk to all of them, except Vanya, like they were idiots, was thankfully broken by their brother in 2012.

_2012 Luther was shown eating breakfast alone, then riding his bike through the foyer and living room before Pogo’s voice crackled over the intercom “Attention, Master Luther. Mission alert. I repeat, mission alert.”_

“Haven’t missed that thing.” Klaus said, and a second later their father was shown writing in his stupid book. “Or him.”

_Without looking up from his work, their father instructed Luther, “There’s a biochemical substance, unknown, but dangerous, especially in the wrong hands.”_

“Says the man who drugged, hurt, and killed children.” Ben muttered.

_“As my Number One, I need you to deal with the threat.” Their father continued, but when their father had called their brother Number One,_ Diego looked over at his alarmingly pale brother.

“Are you okay Luther?” Diego asked, drawing more attention to their brother.

Luther, trying to be the strong Number One role he was given brushed off their concerns, “I’m fine.”

Allison, not believing him, persisted, “Are you-”

“I’m fine.” Luther snapped, which surprised, and effectively silenced, all of the siblings.

_“I’m ready.” 2012 Luther immediately replied, “But, uh.”_

_The hesitance in his Number One got their father to look up from his book, “Yes?”_

_“You don’t need to call me by my number anymore.” Luther hesitantly told their father._

_Not expecting such behavior from Luther their father asked, “Why not?”_

_“Because I’m the only one left.” Luther said._

_Their father simply said “Ah.” and his attention was back to his book. Luther walked out of their father’s office as, unbeknownst to him, their father watched him leave._

_There was another black screen and the sounds of gunshots could be heard,_ leaving five of the six siblings confused as to what was happening. _Before the screen lit up again with their mother and father pushing a gasping Luther into their medical room. “Hurry!” Their father instructed, “Let’s get him inside. Get that gear off him.”_

Allison tried to grab Luther’s hand, to try to support and comfort him, but he pulled his hand away before she could.

_Back on the screen, Grace was wordlessly removing what she could from their brother, exposing his very bloody and injured chest. Their mother and father worked together to try and save their brother. Their father actually looked upset, not disappointed, that their effort to save Luther wasn’t working, as a last resort their father ordered Pogo to bring him some serum he had._

_And the serum seemed to have worked and several months later, based on the hair that had grown on their brother’s head and face, Luther gasps awake. Except now he had the body his siblings had seen in 2019._

Again Allison tried to grab Luther’s hand, to try to support and comfort him, and again he pulled his hand away before she could.

_Back in 2019, Allison wakes up Luther, from what may have been a dream of his accident, to show him their now deactivated mother. “The two guys last night, the ones with the masks.” Future Allison said,_ although present Allison knew better, _“They did this to her. It has to do with Five somehow. I mean, they were looking for him.”_ Diego was pointedly avoiding any looks Allison was sending his way.

_“I know I was arguing to turn Grace off,” Luther said, “but it doesn't make seeing her like this any easier.” Allison worried about how Diego would react to their mother getting shut off by what she had thought was the assassins in masks, but was actually the brother she was worried about._

_The scene switched from Allison and Luther arguing about Luther’s accident and how he didn’t tell Allison to Vanya waking up at Leonard’s._

_Vanya woke up to Leonard in his kitchen, “I hope I wasn’t being too loud.” he apologized, although not sounding that sincere. In turn, Vanya also apologized for falling asleep the night before. Leonard reassured her it was alright, “I would’ve let you sleep all day, too, but,” he said, trying to hand her a mug of coffee._

_“Rehearsal.” Vanya finished._

_“Rehearsal.” Leonard echoed._

_Vanya scrambled into her bag, trying to find her meds but having no luck. When Leonard asked her what was wrong she told him, “I thought I’d be going home last night, so I left my refill.”_

_“So you stop by on your way.” Leonard suggested._

_“No,” Vanya said, “there’s no time. It’s just, I really need it for my nerves. I’ve been taking it since I was kid.”_

“There’s no way he already knows right?” Klaus asked, not exactly wanting an answer.

_Leonard assured her, “For one day, I think you’ll be fine.”_

“Oh, he knows.” Ben said, shoving his head into his hands, wondering how they collectively let this creep get to their sister.

_When their sister apologized to Leonard again while she was trying got ready to leave, Leonard said, “Hey, let’s make a deal. Around me, you don’t have to apologize just for existing.”_

“Ugh, I hate him.” Klaus whined, “But does he have to be so stupidly charming?”

“That’s the point.” Ben said.

“Care to share with the class Benny?” Klaus asked.

Ben sighed before he said, “He’s trying to be overly charming and nice to Vanya. And if he’s already read her book, he knows we weren’t the nicest siblings we could’ve been to her. And if he already has Dad’s book, then he knows what dad did to her, including the medication and isolation, and had us do to her.” 

“If he wasn’t such a prick he might’ve been a decent psychiatrist or something.” Five muttered.

_On the screen, Leonard put both of the mugs of coffee he’d been holding, saying, “It’s a beautiful day. Come on. I’ll walk you to rehearsal.”_

_“Is it on your way?” Vanya asked._

_“Not at all.” Leonard replied with a smile._

_Jumping from being at Leonard’s house to Vanya and Leonard walking to the Icarus together, “Thank you for listening.” Vanya said, “I’m sorry I kept you up so late.”_

_“You’re doing it again.” Leonard reminded her._

_Vanya defended with, “Force of habit.” Leonard hummed in understanding before Vanya continued, “When I was a kid, I felt like I had to apologize for even breathing.”_ Allison felt like the worst sister in the world, not only for not knowing her sister felt that way, but for being part of the reason she felt like that.

_“Tell me about it.” Leonard said, “I don’t think my dad ever forgave me for being born.”_

_“What about your mom?” Vanya asked him._

_Leonard hesitated for a second before saying, “She wasn’t really in the picture.”_

_A somewhat awkward pause fell between the two before Vanya noticed Helen, the first chair violin, walking in front of them, “Hey, Helen.” Helen turned and gave their sister a tense smile but didn’t say anything back._

_“Friend of yours?” Leonard asked as Helen quickly walked away from the two and Vanya sighed._

_“First chair.” Vanya answered._

_“First,” Leonard asked, sounding confused, “and that is?”_

_“It’s like the quarterback of the violin section.” Vanya explained, which Leonard laughed, saying he knew football. “She has the solo at the concert next week. She’s yet to be unseated for five years. It’s kind of a thing.”_

_“Well,” Leonard said, “want me to try? I could try. I’ve been practicing. I’m getting good.” Each little sentence he had said got Vanya to smile a bit more._

_As they reached the door to the theater Vanya said, “Thank you for everything.”_

_“Hey,” Leonard said, “maybe you can thank me over a dinner. We never got to have our last one.”_

“Say no!” Klaus yelled, _but Future Vanya disregarded his suggestion and nodded to Leonard’s offer before hurrying off to her rehearsal._

_The scene jumped from Leonard outside the Icarus to Klaus being choked by Cha-Cha in her and Hazel’s hotel room. “Number Five, where is he?” Cha-Cha demanded from Klaus, thinking he knew where his brother was while choking him with a wire._

_“Don’t, stop,” Future Klaus choked,_ several of his siblings were giving present him concerned looks, not Ben though, he knew what had really happened, _“I’m almost there.”_

_“Is that a-?” Cha-Cha started, obviously seeing something she hadn’t expected from strangling and interrogating the junkie in front of her._

_Hazel walked over to the two, looked at whatever Cha-Cha was seeing, and said “Yep.” and Cha-Cha stopped choking their brother._ All the siblings that had been giving him sympathetic looks, now looked quite grossed out by their brother becoming aroused by being choked out.

_Both Hazel and Cha-Cha looked quite defeated in their failed attempts to get any information about Five and his whereabouts from Klaus. As their, at the time, kidnapped brother laughed when talking about his erection from the strangulation Hazel smacked him on the head, asking what was so funny, in an attempt to get Klaus to shut up._

But Hazel and Cha-Cha didn’t know their brother the way they knew their brother; in which it took a lot more than hitting him to get him to shut up when you want him to.

_On the screen, Klaus was answering Hazel’s rhetorical question, “Well, for one, you spent the last ten hours-”_ Allison gasped in shock, how hadn’t she known he brother was held captive and tortured for hours, if not days on end, while she was trying to build a relationship with her sister, which was, once again, nonexistent. 

_“-beating me senseless, and you’ve learned absolutely nothing.”_ If it wasn’t his brother that had been tortured by those freaks for hours and not giving up anything, Diego would’ve been proud. But since it was his brother, he was pissed. 

_“I mean, nobody tells me shit. The truth is, I’m the one person in that house nobody will even notice is gone.”_ Klaus felt bad now for saying that, seeing basically all of his siblings cringe or flinch at it, probably because it was what had happened, but it was how he felt. Not how he felt now, but then, he did. _“You assholes kidnapped the wrong guy!” Klaus laughed, earning him another hit to his head from Hazel._

_“Please make him stop talking.” Hazel hissed to Cha-Cha on his way back to his bed. Cha-Cha, also irritated by their brother, suggested waterboarding him, which again was unsuccessful and only, according to Klaus, quenched his thirst._

_Hazel and Cha-Cha, both nearing their wit's end, met in the bathroom of their hotel room to discuss Klaus. “What the hell is wrong with that guy?”_

“There’s nothing wrong with you Klaus,” Allison said, “you know that right?”

“That’s quite sweet mi hermana, but there is plenty wrong with me.” Klaus said, eyes not moving from the screen to look at his sister or any of his brothers.

_Cha-Chs replied, “He’s a freak like his brother.”_

Klaus laughed and asked, “Which one?” earning him quite a few annoyed looks from his four brothers.

_“Everyone else in that house.” Hazel agreed, “Just another example of management stickin’ it to the working man.”_

“Does he ever stop complaining?” Ben asked.

“No.” Five replied, having worked with and around Hazel and Cha-Cha for years. And on the screen, Cha-Cha shared his sentiment.

_“They should’ve warned us this was an atypical assignment.” Hazel complained, “Hello? Hazard pay?” Cha-Cha was able to motivate Hazel, ignoring his complaints about the job, enough to get him motivated enough to continue their torturing efforts towards their brother._

_The scene switched to Diego laying on Eudora’s porch as she left for her job. “What the hell? Who’d you piss off this time?” she asked him as Diego sat up on her porch._

“She knows you so well Diego.” Klaus laughed, and Diego silently and sadly agreed with him.

_“I gave it as good as I got.” Diego deflected._

_Eudora, ever persistent, noted, “You didn’t answer my question.” offering Diego the coffee she had, which he accepted._

“I just noticed,” Klaus said, getting his sibling's attention, “it seems like everyone but Five gets to have coffee, while he keeps complaining about not getting any.” Five glared at him while some of his other siblings, like Ben and Diego, either laughed or at least cracked a smile at the irony.

_“How’s all that paperwork coming along?” Diego asked Eudora._

_She responded with, sarcastically of course, “It’s a real page-turner. I’ve got two guys in children’s masks, rare bullet casings, a random fingerprint from a 1930’s cold case, and I just learned that the tow truck driver from the doughnut shop, didn’t have any family.”_

“That is a page-turner, who would’ve known the apocalypse would be so interesting!” Klaus said, as if the ensuing apocalypse wouldn’t end the world.

_“The boy.” Diego started._

_“Not his, apparently. Kid’s our only possible witness and he’s a complete mystery.” Eudora said, Five couldn’t help the smugness that rose in his chest, not that he’d wanted to._

_Eudora noticed the odd behavior that Diego was showing and asked him, “Okay, what’s going on?” And Diego’s confusion, faked or authentic, Eudora continued, “You could have called me for an update. So why are you really here?”_

_Diego, a bit unwillingly, told her that their mom had died the night before. Eudora immediately began offering him her sympathy, knowing how close he’d been with their mom. Diego told her that the guys in the masks had come to his house, looking for his brother who was now missing, referring to Five not Klaus, and tried to kill his family._

“I didn’t know you cared about us Diego.” Klaus said, “There is a heart under that cold exterior.”

“He is a momma’s boy after all.” Ben agreed.

“Both of you,” Diego hissed, throwing a pen at each of them, hitting them right between their eyes, “shut up.”

_Future Diego told Eudora, “He’s been missing since yesterday. I need to find him.”_

_Eudora, not pleased with Diego’s desire to go after the assassins himself, said “Diego, you need to let me handle this. You’re not equipped-”_

_“Oh, you always loved tellin’ me what I can and can’t do.” Diego said, cutting her off, “You know, maybe, for once, just try things my way.”_ ‘And you did. And I wasn’t there when you needed me. And it killed you.’ Diego thought to himself, still bitter that she’d died, alone, and he hadn’t been able to save her. _Eudora claimed she couldn’t try things ‘his way’, grabbing her coffee from him and making her way to her job._

_The scene switched from Diego on Eudora’s porch to Allison outside Vanya’s apartment._

_As their sister approached their other sister’s apartment, she noticed that the door was slightly ajar, entering the apartment cautiously, concerned for her sister, Allison called out, “Vanya?” looking around the apartment and not seeing her sister anywhere._

_Allison looked around her sister’s apartment, it being the first time she’d been in her sister’s apartment, but as she looked around the apartment she saw a figure going from Vanya’s bathroom to her bedroom._

Ben muttered a “What the hell?” while several of his other brothers in the room looked varying degrees of confused, annoyed, and angry, while Allison looked more pissed than Ben had ever seen her look in his entire life, and afterlife.

_Having already decided a course of action in regards to the person lurking in her sister’s apartment, Allison hid behind a wall, waiting for the figure to be close enough for her to attack. But as the figure got closer, the Hargreeves could identify the figure as Leonard Peabody. When he was close enough to Allison, she tripped him in her heels was getting ready to restrain him when he told her to wait._

_Allison asked Leonard, “Where is Vanya?” assuming the two were together._

_“She’s at rehearsal.” Leonard said, pushing himself off Vanya’s floor, “She, she left her keys at my place last night.-”_

“Doubt that.” Diego called.

_“-I was just returning them.” Leonard claimed,_ which confused Ben as to why he was in her bathroom and bedroom then if he was returning her keys. _“I’m sorry if I scared you.”_

_“So why are you inside her apartment?” Allison asked him,_ voicing Ben’s questioning of Leonard’s story.

_Leonard looked embarrassed as he said he was only in her apartment because he needed to use the bathroom. Then, he turned it on Allison, “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you here?”_

_“Excuse me?” Allison asked, quite offended, and she still was._ Who does this guy think he is?

Klaus, hearing the offended tone in his sister’s voice, gasped, “Oh shit!”

_“No, it’s just,” Leonard said, trying to clarify what he’d been asking, “from what I heard, you didn’t want anything to do with Vanya yesterday. So, I was just wondering.”_

_Allison, still offended, replied, “I don’t know why that’s any of your business.”_

_Leonard backed down, realizing he wasn’t going to get anywhere with the conversation, and started making his out of the apartment, claiming he’ll drop off the keys to Vanay at her rehearsal. Which Allison said she’d do instead of him._

_The screen jumped from a suspicious Allison to Doctor Lance, in regular clothes, still being staked out by Five._

_Doctor Lance was walking back to his car, holding his dog, completely unaware of any of the events that were about to occur. Just after Doctor Lance put his dog in the backseat of the car, and he was getting into the driver’s seat of his car, Five jumped into the passenger seat._

_As soon as Lance had seen him, Five pressed a knife to his throat, “One chance.” Five said, “That’s all you’ve got. One chance to tell me exactly what’s going on in that lab.”_

_Doctor Lance didn’t hold out at all in this interrogation of Five’s, telling him, “I, I manufacture prosthetic devices for fake patients. I bill the insurance companies and then sell them for cash on the black market.”_

“Well, he sure didn’t last long, didn’t he?” Klaus said, reclined as much as he could be in their father’s still office chair.

_“Including eyeballs?” 2019 Five persisted, wanting to make sure his information was absolutely correct. Which Lance confirmed, claiming they’re his biggest seller. After Lance revealed that many of the prosthetics they made were being sold off the books Five started, “So, the serial number I told you-”_

_“Could’ve already been bought. Yes.” Lance clarified._

_“I needed that list, Lance. Names and numbers, and I need it now!” Five demanded, not like a five year old would, but like an insane hitman might’ve._

“Five,” Ben said, “you are fucking terrifying.”

“Thank you.”

_Lance told Five that he didn’t have the list on him, that it would be back at the lab in his safe. To which Five told him to drive them back to the lab in order to get that list._

_The screen jumped from Five and Lance, about to take a field trip to Meritech as Five had put it, to Luther rummaging through Five’s belongings and his bedroom despite Pogo’s advisement against doing so._ Realizing Luther had been looking through his stuff, Five glared at Luther, who then tried to shrink down on himself and away from his brother’s glare.

_As Luther searched Five’s desk’s drawers, looking for something, Pogo said, “Like I’ve said Master Luther, Number Five hasn’t lived in this room since he was a boy.”_

_“Yeah, I know,” Luther countered, “but we need to warn him. He doesn’t even know we were attacked. He doesn’t know they’re looking for him. He doesn’t know-”_

“Oh, I think our little psycho knew they were looking for him.” Klaus said, which shifted Five’s glare from Luther to him.

_Back in Five’s room, “What are you doing here?” Diego cut in._

“Deja vu!” Klaus sang, now getting glares from Five and Diego.

_An awkward silence fell between Luther, Diego, and Pogo before Luther asked, “Do you know about Mom?”_

_Diego’s answer was, “Well, it looks like you got what you wanted, one way or another, right?”_

_Luther, feeling a bit awkward, countered Diego with, “Wanna tell me what you’re doing here?”_

_To which Diego replied, “Looking for Five.”_

“If you two idiots stopped circling each other, it’d be amazing what you two could accomplish instead of stupidly bickering all the time.” Five groaned, ignoring the shocked and annoyed looks on Luther and Diego’s faces.

_Future Luther bit back, “Oh, let me guess, you’re gonna save the day.”_

“Oh my god!” Klaus whined.

_“It’s what I do. Asshole.” Future Diego returned._

_“Really?” Luther challenged as Diego started to walk out the door of Five’s bedroom._

“Oh, don’t do it.” Ben said, watching the screen through his fingers, knowing how stupid Luther and Diego could be together.

_“Last I checked, you mopped floors.” Luther finished, which got Diego to pause at Five’s door, before turning to face his brother._

_“And what do you do?” Diego challenged. “Sit on the moon for four years, waiting for orders?”_

“My god, do you two ever stop bitching at each other?” Allison asked, equally annoyed with her brothers’ stupid behavior as Five, Klaus, and Ben were.

_Pogo tried to calm in brewing fight between Luther and Diego, to no avail. “Keep on being a loyal soldier after everything our father did to you.” Diego bit._

_“What?” Luther countered, “You mean save my life?”_

_“No, I mean,” Diego said, sounding very condescending, “turn you into a monster.”_ That earned Diego several glares, especially from Allison.

_Luther punched a hole in the wardrobe Diego was leaning on, the same one Klaus had hidden in when Five was talking to Vanya. “Can’t hide it anymore, champ.” Diego mocked as Pogo looked disappointed at both of the brothers._

_“He had a difficult decision to make, and he made it.” Luther countered._

_Diego’s mockery of Luther continued with, “Grow up, Luther. We’re not 13 anymore.”_

_Ignoring Diego, Luther continued, “That’s what leaders do, by the way.”_

_“He sent you on that mission all alone.” Diego said, trying to get something to get through to his brother about the awful way their father treated him and the rest of their siblings, “Almost got you killed.”_

_“Yeah, well at least he was there.” Luther sneered, “Where were you? You and everyone else in this family? You walked out.”_

_“And thank Christ I did,” Diego said, “Or I would have ended up just like you.” Ignoring the hurt look on Luther’s face, Diego continued, “Let me ask you a question. When you watch one of those nature shows, does it turn you on?”_

“I gotta admit, would’ve expected that from Klaus.” Five said.

And Ben agreed, “Same.”

“Rude!” Klaus gasped, before shrugging and saying “But fair.”

_Pogo finally had enough of their fighting and told the two brothers to knock it off, reminding them that the house had been attacked, they’d barely gotten out of it with their lives, that their mother was thought to have not been as lucky as the rest of them, and now their brother was missing and that he was disappointed at how the two were rising to the occasion._

Allison definitely had more respect for Pogo being able to stop her most hot-headed brothers’ bickering, something very few could do without powers.

_Luther and Diego sheepishly apologized to Pogo for their disturbance and took their bickering elsewhere._

_Back in the motel, Hazel and Cha-Cha bicker for a bit about the other’s inability to properly torture Klaus, while the man in question is going through the awful experience of withdrawal with only Ben’s ghostly form to try and help him through it. “Withdrawal,” Ben’s ghost said, “It’s starting now, isn’t it? Must be.” The screen flipped from Klaus to Ben’s ghost, somehow leaning against the dresser of the motel, “Otherwise, who’s the dead babushka?”_

_Said babushka was speaking russian by the window of the motel, none of them could understand what she was saying as Klaus said, “I don’t know,” Sounding more defeated than any of them,_ besides Ben and Five could remember him being, _“but it’s driving me crazy.” But as he said, “The bitch won’t shut up!” he gained the attention of Hazel and Cha-Cha._

_“Hey!” Hazel called, “Watch your mouth. And what did I say about eyes front?”_

_Ben, on the other hand, was trying to keep his brother calm, cool, and collected, as best he could. “Stay calm, Klaus.”_

_Cha-Cha told Hazel that, “Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way. Remember section 76, sub A, of the training manual?”_

_“I barely remember what we had for breakfast at this point.” Hazel admitted._

_“To paraphrase,” Cha-Cha continued, ignoring Hazel’s comment, “torturing works best when you know who you’re torturing.”_

“Shouldn’t that be like,” Klaus noted, as if he wasn’t the one they had tortured, “the first thing you do when trying to get information?”

_“Hand me his coat.” Cha-Cha told Hazel, Hazel grabbed his coat and handed it to Cha-Cha as the two walked back towards Klaus, who was instantly telling them no because of the drugs he knew were hidden in the pockets._

_Cha-Cha found some of Klaus’s drug stash, tossing it to Hazel who promptly dropped them on the floor of the motel and smashed them into the carpeting, eliciting Klaus to begin offering up just about anything and everything he could think of, from cash to amputee hookers, but as Hazel and Cha-Cha began to eat some of his chocolate bar that was laced with cannabis along with Cha-Cha’s offers of getting his remaining pills back, Klaus was unfortunately quick to give up the little information he had about Five and his previous whereabouts. Namely at Meritech._

_The scene jumped to Hazel and Cha-Cha strolling into one of the labs of Meritech, full of prosthetics, both armed with gas canisters._ Five wanted to be mad at his brother for giving up his only lead, he had been in the future, but he knew now that Klaus hadn’t been in a strong place mentally, from both the torture and the beginnings of withdrawal, that Five was pleasantly surprised at how long his brother had actually held out. _But watching Hazel and Cha-Cha destroy the lab that held what might’ve been the answer to stopping their sister from causing the apocalypse,_ Five was mildly upset, to put it lightly. 

_Although, it was interesting to watch two highly trained assassins dance around a lab full of prosthetics, high as balls._

_The screen switched to Luther and Diego finding Five’s now abandoned van. Once inside Diego finds Five’s copy of Vanya’s book, filled with his own writing in the margins, stamped with the Argyle Public Library’s logo._

“Why’d you use Vanya’s book?” Ben asked, and the look Five gave him prompted him to explain further, “You could’ve used like an empty notebook or any other book, why her’s?”

Five, surprisingly, actually gave Ben, and the rest of his siblings a full answer about his behaviors in the future, “It was the book I had in the apocalypse, it was one of the only things that kept me going when I was there. It just, made sense to me, to keep using it when I was back.”

“Wait,” Allison said after a beat of silence filled the room, “you stole her book from the library?”

“No,” Five said, “it was the same book I had in the apocalypse, I kept it with me, through my time at the commission, hoping I’d be able to figure out a way back home one day.”

If he’d been closer to Five, Klaus would’ve given him a hug despite knowing he’d get shoved off his brother, instead he elected to say, “You did though.”

“And you brought us with you.” Ben said before amending it, “Almost all of us anyway.”

“Could we stop with the mushy-emotional stuff now?” Five said, looking very much like the 58 year old man his consciousness was, “There’s much more important things to worry about right now.”

The siblings, who would rather help Five talk through his experience in the apocalypse and the week before the apocalypse, but also knowing that if they kept pushing him he’d just shut down and shut them out, so, reluctantly, they returned their attention to the tv just as _Five reached the burning Meritech building before being blasted backwards as the building exploded._

_The scene moved from Five sitting on the sidewalk in front of Meritech, watching his only lead literally go up in smoke, to Allison waiting outside the Icarus for her sister, while she looked at a magazine with a quote from Patrick on the cover, claiming that he and Claire were doing fine since he and Allison had split._

Allison wanted to cry, seeing Claire again, even if she was only on a magazine, it just reminded her that her daughter was gone, and might not be coming back. But she felt Luther squeeze her hand, trying to comfort her, knowing how hard it must be to see her daughter again, but also not being able to be with her.

_As Allison flipped through the magazine, presumably to find the interview Patrick had given the reporter, Vanya walked up to her preoccupied sister, “Hey,” Vanya started, startling Allison, “what are you doing here?”_

_“Hey.” Allison said, quickly flipping the magazine closed, “I was looking for you. I, um, I wanted to be the one to tell you about Mom.”_

_“What?” Vanya asked._

_“Vanya, she’s,” Allison started, seeming to struggle with what she’d been trying to tell her sister, “she’s gone.”_

_Vanya, clearly thinking one of her siblings had turned off their mom, said, “I thought we were gonna wait a bit.”_

_“It was those psychopaths last night.” Allison clarified, “They killed her. We found her this morning.” Vanya looked a bit saddened by the news of their mother’s passing while Allison’s voice wavered a bit, “And, listen,” Allison continued, “Last night, what I said-”_

_“No, no, don’t,” Vanya said, cutting off Allison, “don’t worry about it.”_ Despite what her sister had told her to do, Allison couldn’t do anything but worry now. Watching how they, herself included, both pushed their sister into the arms of that psychopath as well as missed all the signs that any chances they had at having a relationship with their sister was slipping through their fingers.

_Back on screen, Allison remembers she has Vanya’s keys and hands them back to her, which, reasonably, prompts Vanya to ask her, “Why do you have my keys?”_

_“It’s a long story.” Allison replied, looking hesitant to tell her sister about what had happened at her apartment earlier with Leonard, “Do you wanna get a drink?” Which Vanya agreed to._

“I thought you’d never ask!” Klaus called dramatically, pushing himself out of their father’s chair, until Ben pushed him back into it with a simple, “No Klaus.”

Back with their least favorite time-traveling assassins, coming down from their high off Klaus’s chocolate at Griddy’s.

_The scene changed to Cha-Cha sitting at the counter at Griddy's, looking angrily at a partially eaten doughnut, said, “I hate sprinkles.”_

“How can you hate sprinkles?” Klaus asked.

“I hate them.” Diego snarked back, smirking at the utter shock on Klaus’s face.

Until Klaus said, “Well, that’s because you hate everything fun anyway.”

_“Maybe I just hate doughnuts.” Cha-Cha continued,_ earning another shocked gasp from Klaus. _“Why are we here again?” Cha-Cha asked, right before Agnes asked Hazel if he needed a refill on his coffee._

_“God, yes, please.” Hazel answered, and when Agnes finished refilling his cup he said, Thank you.”_

Klaus laughed, “He sounds like you Five. Except he uses manners.” getting a glare from Five in return.

_As Agnes filled Cha-Cha’s cup, she gave her an odd look before moving to another customer further down the countertop. “The world is ending.” Hazel said, “All this, all these, people, they’ll be gone and they have, just, no idea.”_

“Now he really sounds like Five.” Diego said, now being on the receiving end of Five’s glare.

_As Cha-Cha listened to Hazel, she realized something, “This is not about a broken contract!”_

_“What?” Hazel asked. Cha-Cha explained that Five was trying to change the timeline, stop the apocalypse, and their contract to kill him was going to lead to the end of the world. Soon after, Cha-Cha and Hazel made their way back to Klaus._

_The screen jumped back to Klaus, except, not the Klaus in the motel; but to what looked like an 8-10 year old Klaus, screaming and crying, trying to hideaway in the corner of a marble building._

_The fucking mausoleum._

_Little Klaus screamed for their father to let him out, wanting to be as far from the ghosts and their screaming as he could be. The screen jumped back to Klaus, bound and gagged in the closet of the motel room as Ben tried to ground him back in reality. “Klaus.” Ben said as Klaus screamed as best he could through the tape over his mouth, “Klaus. Breathe. You’re in the worst of it now. Just try and stay calm.”_

_As soon as the last of the words had passed Ben’s ghostly lips, a vacuum cleaner flipped on in the motel room._ Allison and Luther were both hoping this would be when their brother escaped from Hazel and Cha-Cha, but Ben, Klaus, and Diego knew better.

_Klaus tried screaming again, trying to get whoever was cleaning the room’s attention, but as the screen panned over, it revealed that the woman who’d been cleaning the room had headphones on. As Klaus’s attempts continued in vain Ben told him, “She can’t hear you.” meanwhile the woman had found the screw from the vent that had fallen when Hazel had put the briefcase into the vent, leaving it on the table._

_“You know what the worst part of being dead is?” Ben asked, not waiting for an answer from his brother he continued, “You’re stuck. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to change. That’s the real torture, if you gotta know. Watching your brother take for granted everything you lost, and pissing it away.”_

Hearing himself later, Ben realized how mean he’d sounded, but he’d still meant everything he’d told Klaus then.

_Klaus calmed down enough, he’d stopped screaming and crying, just left heavily breathing as the screen flipped to the ruined Meritech building as Eudora walked out of it._

_Just as Eudora reached Beeman, who’d been playing with a burn prosthetic arm, and he said, “It’s creepy, huh?”_

_“That’s the understatement of the year.” Eudora replied, “Did you find anything?”_

_“Well,” Beeman answered, “the fire inspector says the speed of the blaze indicates that an accelerant was used.” As Eudora continued to peruse the collected and burned remaining prosthetics, Beeman continued, “Oh, and, uh, we, found this.” Beeman said as he held up the ripped-off ear of Cha-Cha’s dog mask._

_“Get that over to the lab immediately.” Eudora ordered, which Beeman nodded to as she noticed something across the street. She said, “I’ll be right back.” as she walked towards Five’s van, the windshield was covered in a powder of some kind with ‘Your brother says hi’ wiped into it with a card for the motel left in the windshield wipers. After reading the message in the powder she remembered Diego telling her earlier that day that one of his brother’s was missing and thought she’d connected the two._

Once again Diego felt upset at himself for not being able to help and protect her when she needed and wanted him, instead he was reminded of where and who he’d been with when she’d died as he watched _himself and Luther enter the library in their search for Five._

_Luther and Diego spread out through the many floors of the library, searching for their brother, seeming to not be able to find him until Diego heard some women asking where a kid’s parents were. Following the sounds of their voices, Luther and Diego found Five, passed out, surrounded by several notebooks, an empty bottle, the walls covered in equations, and his arm slung around Delores._

_The scene shifted from Luther and Diego, finding Five passed out in the library ‘drunk as a skunk’ to Allison and Vanya having drinks, discussing Leonard._

_"Leonard wouldn’t. I mean, I can’t even imagine." Vanya said, in response to something Allison had told her just before that they weren’t shown_ and Allison couldn’t remember at this point.

“Honey, you have known this man for like three days, and you’re out here acting like you’ve known him for years!” Klaus called.

_“Uh,” Allison said, “I get it. I don’t wanna believe it either, but why would he tell you he’s going to work, and then he’s letting himself into your place?”_

_“To use the bathroom, like he said?” Vanya countered,_ far too trusting of Leonard for her, and by extent the world’s, own good.

_“Or to creep around?” Allison sighed, annoyed she wasn’t getting through to her sister._

_Vanya quickly defended Leonard to her sister, “He wouldn’t.”_

_“Rifle through your stuff?” Allison continued, “Maybe steal something? I mean, jerk off on your Mr. Snuggles teddy bear?”_

Ben couldn’t help the “Ew.” That escaped him as on screen _Vanya said “No!”_

_“Look, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this,” Allison said, “but sometimes, men are unredeemable shits.”_

Which earned several noises and looks of disagreement from her five brothers, “Not you guys, obviously.” Allison said, trying to cool off the rising tempers of her brothers. And to her pleasure it worked, for the most part.

_“Well, maybe, but, I like this one.” Vanya said, “I know it’s weird, ‘cause we only knew each other for a few days, but, Leonard felt right.”_ It was hard to hear their sister both, sound so sad as she talked but also hearing how she genuinely loved Leonard and thought he loved her back. _Vanya continued, ”Like he saw something in me no one else did.”_

_“I know the feeling.” Allison mumbled back, “God, I haven’t felt like that since I was a kid.”_

_“Luther?” Vanya asked,_ causing both Allison and Luther’s faces to blush.

_Back on screen Allison laughed and asked, “Does everyone know?”_ And several of their brothers grumbled, muttered, and yelled varying degrees of yes.

_“Well,” Vanya said, “I’m the last person who should be speaking for everyone, but, I always suspected. You two were so close.”_

_“Yeah, well,” Allison replied, “he’s not speaking to me, either.”_

_A beat of silence fell between the two sisters before Vanya raised her drink and asked, “Yay, sisters?”_

_“Yay, sisters.” Allison answered and the two clinked glasses._

“Now that,” Klaus said, wiping a fake tear from his face, “was beautiful.”

_The screen jumped from Allison and Vanya, finally bonding as sisters, to Hazel and Cha-Cha returning to their motel room to resume their torture of Klaus._

_Upon entering their room, Hazel and Cha-Cha realize that the room had been cleaned while they were out. Worried that whoever had cleaned the room had freed Klaus, the two assassins check if Klaus is still in the closet as they’d left him. Only to reveal that he was, in fact, still there._

“How are they the best of the best if they’re so sloppy?” Five asked himself.

_Hazel brought Klaus back to the center of the room, still bound and gagged in his chair, still only wearing a towel._

_Klaus, getting a good look at Hazel and Cha-Cha for the first time without their masks, tried to tell them something through the tape on his mouth, which only garbled whatever he’d been trying to say. Cha-Cha ripped the tape off Klaus’s mouth and prompted him to repeat whatever he’d been trying to say, which was, “You guys are scarier without the masks.”_

_Which earned him a slap from Cha-Cha. “That’s no way to say hello to your old friends, is it?” Hazel asked him, sarcasm heavy in his voice._

_“Can’t we call it a night?” Klaus asked, taking a deep breath between each word, “I already gave you what you wanted. Just, please, please let me go. Please.”_ It was hard for Klaus’s brothers and sister to listen to their brother beg to be released from his captors and their torture.

_“Well, technically, we want you brother.” Cha-Cha said, “Is your brother here now?”_

_Klaus looked over to Ben’s ghost, laying across one of the motel room’s beds, before saying, “You’re gonna have to be a little more specific on that.” followed by dissolving into giggles. Getting himself another slap from Cha-Cha. Klaus amended what he’d said, “I told you already. He’s not coming. No one will.”_

If he was going to be honest with himself, Luther never realized how much his siblings, especially Klaus and Vanya, had gone through, in the week before the apocalypse and in their lives before that. He’d already promised himself and Allison that he’d be a better, nicer brother towards all of his siblings, but now he had a better view of the scale that his siblings had suffered through, mostly from the hands of their father, and he swore he wouldn’t let happen again. It was his role as Number One to protect and lead his siblings. And he would.

_“Well,” Cha-Cha said, “Number Five knows now. We left him a message. And when he comes for you, we’ll be ready.”_

_Hazel and Cha-Cha turned Klaus to face the corner of the room and turned off the lights, leaving him in darkness. The screen jumped into another flashback of Klaus’s, the same little Klaus that had been shown before, still locked in the mausoleum, was curled up in a ball on the floor._

Allison tried to give Klaus a sympathetic look, it had already happened in their new timeline, so they couldn’t stop it from happening, but they could stop it from happening again, but Klaus’s eyes were looking towards the screen but there was a glaze-like look in them. Like he wasn't fully present.

_In Klaus’s flashback, their father had finally returned for scared, little Klaus, saying, “Welcome back to the land of the living, Number Four.” Reginald called from the doorframe of the mausoleum, the moonlight at his back._

_Klaus, upon seeing their father, but more importantly the open door, asked “Can I go now?”_

_“Have you overcome your fear of the dead?” Their father asked, seeming to already know the answer. Klaus nodded, tears evident on his face in the moonlight. Their father ignored his nod and said, “You must become the master of your own life, Number Four. Or it will become the master of you.”_

_“Please, I wanna go home.” Klaus pleaded, voice cracking in desperation._

_Their father observed Klaus for a moment before saying, “Three more hours.” and promptly left Klaus crying, locked up once more in the mausoleum, with nothing but the screaming spirits._

_Fading from the past to the present, 2019, Klaus was visibly shaken as he came out of his flashback. Ben, noticing Klaus’s state, asked "You went there again, didn’t you?”_

_Klaus only whimpered no over and over as Hazel and Cha-Cha watched from their hiding spots, armed, waiting for Five to show up and save his brother._

_The screen bounced down to the lobby of the motel as Eudora walked in, alone. “I have reason to believe two wanted criminals are in this motel.” Eudora told the man at the front desk, trying to get his attention away from his food._

_And he snarked back, “Just two?”_

_“I’m gonna need to take a look around.” Eudora told him, not wanting to be in the conversation as much as the man at the desk wanted to be._

_“This is a pay-by-the-hour kind of place.” The man said, waving his spoon around, “My customers, they don’t get four-star digs, but, they do get complete privacy, from me, and from the man.”_

_Eudora, not taking his crap, said, “That’s bullshit.”_

_“They’re your rules, not mine.” The man defended, “Think I ain’t read the Constitution?”_

Allison rolled her eyes. “This is the kind of men I meant, good lord.” Allison grumbled to herself.

_“I don’t think you can read.” Eudora snarked back,_ it made Diego proud of her. _It also made the man go on his break, telling her to come back with a warrant, leaving Eudora alone in the lobby._

_Once the man had left, Eudora reached across the desk and grabbed the landline, then called the gym Diego lived in._

_The call was picked up by an impatient Al, “Fighting Line Boxing. Al here.”_

_“I’m looking for Diego Hargreeves.” Eudora told him._

_“Not here.”_

_“Tell him Detective Eudora Patch called. I think I found his brother. Tell him to meet me at 4535 Calhoun as soon as he can.”_

_Al grabbed a notepad as she spoke, realizing how long the message was. “Hold on, hold on.”_

_“I could use some backup.” Eudora admitted._

_“All right, lady. I’ll let him know you called.” And with that, Al hung up._

Several Hargreeves were shooting Diego sympathetic glances, and based on the angry look set on his face, more than usual, they could kind of guess what was going to happen to Detective Eudora Patch.

_The screen jumped to Luther, carrying Five, and Diego walking down an alley. “Well, we can’t go back to the house.” Luther said, “It’s not secure. Those psychopaths could come back at any moment.”_

_“My place is closer.” Diego said, “No one will look for him there.”_

_Five belched causing Luther to say, “If you vomit on me-”_

_“You know what’s funny?” Five asked, ignoring Luther’s incomplete threat._ Present Five remembered none of what was happening on screen, he must’ve been more drunk than he’d thought he’d been. Delores must’ve been pissed. _“I’m going through puberty. Twice.”_

“That’s rough buddy.” Klaus said, slightly mocking his brother before he realized they’d be going through puberty, twice. “Shit.”

_“And I,” Five continued in his drunken slur, “I drank that whole bottle, didn’t I? That’s what you do when the world you love goes bye-bye. Poof, it’s gone. What are you guys talkin’ about?”_

_“Two masked intruders attack the Academy last night.” Luther told him._

_And Diego finished, “They came looking for you. So I need you to focus. What do they want?”_

_“Hazel and Cha-Cha.” Five breathed, as if he’d almost forgotten about them._

_“Who?” Diego asked, turning a bit to look at Five._

_“You know,” Luther said, “I hate code names.”_

_“The best of the best.” Five said, “Except for me, of course.”_

_“The best of what?” Luther demanded._

“He’s as cryptic and avoidant drunk as he is sober.” Present Diego muttered, quiet enough that Five didn’t hear him. Or if he did hear Diego he was ignoring him. Both fine options.

_2019 Five changed the topic of conversation to, “You know, Delores always said she hated when I drink. She said it made me surly-”_

_“Hey!” Diego yelled, “I need you to focus. What do this Hazel and Cha-Cha want? We just wanna protect you.”_

_“Protect me.” Five laughed, “I don’t need your protection, Diego. Do you have any idea how many people I’ve killed? No. I’m the Four frickin’ Horsemen. The apocalypse is coming.” Five said, followed by vomiting on Luther._

“Ew.” Klaus and Ben whined.

_Back in the motel, with Hazel, Cha-Cha, Klaus, Ben, and the Russian Lady. Said Russian Lady was sobbing and pleading with Hazel and Cha-Cha in russian as Ben realized she was one of their victims. “Look at her.” Ben told Klaus, “At how she’s looking at them. She’s one of their victims. We can use this. Go on.” Seeing that his insistence was starting to get through to Klaus, Ben continued, “You haven’t been this sober since you were a teenager, since you decided to keep the ghosts at bay. This is your chance, Klaus. To control them, learn their secrets. Try to talk to her.”_

_With Ben’s final push, Klaus turned his head towards the Russian ghost and said, “Hi.” As she turned to face him he continued, “Hi, uh. What’s your name?”_

_The ghost answered, “Zoya Popova.”_

_“Oh! That’s a lovely name.” Klaus said back. Hazel and Cha-Cha exchanged looks, thinking Klaus was just talking to thin air, having finally lost his mind. Regardless, Klaus asked, “And can you tell me what happened?”_

_Before Zoya could answer his question, Cha-Cha hissed, “What happened is if you don’t shut up, I’mma cut your tongue out with a grapefruit spoon.”_

_Klaus in turn said, “Zoya Popova.” Which surprised Hazel and Cha-Cha._

_“What did he say?” Hazel asked Cha-Cha._

_“Zoya Popova?” Cha-Cha said back._

_“Old Russian broad, short, with a limp.” Klaus said, drawing the two assassins’ attention back to him, “Oh, she’s really pissed at you guys.”_

_The screen cut off Klaus’s intimidation of Hazel and Cha-Cha by seeming to mysteriously know about their victims to Vanya and Allison laughing as they got back to Vanya’s apartment._

_As Allison entered the apartment for the second time that day she said, “Ah! I love your apartment.”_

_“I’m sure it’s smaller than one of your closets, but-” Vanya teased._

_“No, really.” Allison said, “I love it.”_

“Were you drunk Allison?” Klaus asked, actually shocked his sister might’ve gotten drunk, maybe for the first time in her life.

“No.” Allison denied, “Tipsy, maybe. But not drunk.”

_“I’m just gonna go check on things,” Vanya said, what Allison had told her earlier still present in her mind, “make sure everything’s in the right place.” As Vanya walked off, Allison looked around her sister’s apartment, asking Vanya if she had sweatpants as she checked out her bedroom._

_As Vanya came out of her bedroom, holding a giant bouquet of flowers saying “Oh, my god.”_

_“Wait, what are those?” Allison asked._

“Don’t tell me they’re from him.” Ben said, only to get a nod from Allison.

_Vanya replied, “They’re from Leonard.”_

_Allison grabbed the note with the flowers and read it aloud, “‘I like you, and I’m not sorry.’ I don’t get it.”_

_“It’s an inside joke.” Vanya said, before she called Leonard, thanking him for the flowers as the scene switch from their sister to Leonard. ___

____

_“To be honest, I was getting a little worried.” Leonard said as he dumped something into his kitchen sink, “I hadn’t heard from you. And, it was a little bit awkward with your sister earlier.”_

____

_“It’s fine.” Vanya told him, “She knows it was just a misunderstanding.” The screen showed a very displeased Allison, standing in Vanya’s kitchen with her arms crossed. “Do you wanna get breakfast tomorrow?” Vanya asked Leonard._

____

_“Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that.” Leonard said, a creepy smile on his face._

____

_“Well, I’ll, uh,” Vanya said, moving to hang up the phone, “talk to you in the morning.”_

____

_Once the phone was hung up, the screen showed Leonard holding Vanya’s now empty medication bottles, including her back-up bottle._ As the Hargreeves saw this Allison couldn’t help the “I knew it!” that escaped her.

____

_The screen jumped back to Klaus and Ben with Hazel and Cha-Cha’s victims. The first one shown was a man whose hands had been chopped off by Cha-Cha, making several Hargreeves that weren’t prepared to see it gag. Then a woman speaking in Mandarin told Klaus that Hazel had slashed her throat in a temple. Next was another woman speaking in Farsi, saying that Cha-Cha had suffocated her with a pillow. Followed by Syd telling him about his own tortures. Then was another man, saying that Hazel had pretended to have car troubles before running him over and over with the car but thankfully he’d let his wife go._

____

_Klaus, having heard enough from the ghosts, as well as their overlapping voices giving him a headache, told them to shut up. “Jesus, you guys are worse than the drugs.”_

____

_“How could he possibly know about Zoya Popova?” Hazel asked Cha-Cha._

____

_Cha-Cha replied, “Maybe he guessed, I don’t know. Who cares? She’s dead. You need to focus. That little psycho could show up any minute. Or do you wanna be docked pay again, go back and tell ‘em we couldn’t hack it, face those consequences? Pull it together, now!”_

____

_Now remotivated, Hazel charged over to Klaus, who was still talking to the ghosts, and turned him around. As he did Klaus asked, “Which one are you? Cha-Cha or Hazel?”_

____

_“Hazel” Hazel answered._

____

_Using that information Klaus continued, “Jan Muller. Remember him? Swiss Alps. Him and his wife were coming back from a ski trip.”_

____

_Cha-Cha remembered what had happened, or at least what she’d been told had happened. “Forward. Reverse!”_

____

_Klaus laughed, “Yeah, that’s it! Yeah! And his wife escaped down an alleyway. He says to say thank you.”_

____

_Rather than further question Klaus, Cha-Cha turned on Hazel, “What’s he talking about?”_

____

“Nice job Klaus.”

____

“Thanks Diego.”

____

“I helped!”

____

“We know Benny.”

____

_“I don’t know.” Hazel denied._

____

_“He was so grateful to you,” Klaus continued, “Hazel, for having spared his wife. You know, there might be hope for him yet. Don’t you think?” The screen showed Hazel, Cha-Cha, and Klaus surrounded by Hazel and Cha-Cha’s victims, Ben was hanging out on the outskirts of the ghosts._

____

_“Bathroom, now!” Cha-Cha demanded._

____

As Diego realized that the current episode was ending soon, he was hoping he wouldn’t have to see Eudora die before lunch. But somewhere inside, he knew he wouldn’t be that lucky.

____

_The two assassins walked into the motel room’s bathroom, once again leaving Klaus alone in the room, well alone with the ghosts. “Nicely done.” Ben complimented._

____

_“Thank you.” Klaus replied, looking quite proud of himself._

____

_In the bathroom, Hazel and Cha-Cha discuss Hazel’s disinterested behavior in their work recently. As they were talking, Klaus continued to taunt them, causing Cha-Cha to replace the tape on his mouth._

____

_Back in the lobby, Eudora decides she can no longer wait for Diego’s arrival and begins her pursuit of the missing brother._

____

_Cha-Cha returns to her and Hazel’s conversation in the bathroom as Klaus scoots closer to the table by the window and the window of the motel room._

____

_Eudora is seen walking through the halls of the motel, looking for any sign of the missing Hargreeves or the assassins. Just as Eudora passes the window of the room Klaus is in, he begins banging his head on the nearby table, hoping to draw her attention, and is successful._

____

_Realizing that Klaus was in room 225 of the motel, Eudora got a key from a nearby maid and unlocked the door revealing the bound, gagged, and bloody Klaus. As she entered the room she asked, “Are you Diego’s brother?” Which got a muffled yes from Klaus. “I’m Detective Patch.” Eudora said as she flipped open a knife and began cutting the tape around Klaus’s wrists._

____

_Just as Klaus was freed from the chair, the bathroom door creaked open slowly. Eudora carefully pushed Klaus to the side and drew her gun, firing as Hazel stuck his head and his own gun out of the bathroom door. “Police!” She called, “Drop the gun, or you’re going down!”_

____

_Hazel tossed his gun out the bathroom door, calling “I’m coming out. Don’t shoot.” Klaus grabbed his jacket that was still lying on one of the beds as Hazel walked out of the bathroom._

____

_“Hands behind your head, asshole.” Eudora ordered as Klaus grabbed the vent cover, noticing the briefcase within it._

____

_Eudora slowly approached Hazel, who was kneeling with his hands behind his head, as Klaus crawled into the vent with the briefcase and Cha-Cha secretly approached the room from the hall and shot Eudora from behind, killing her._

____

“Diego-” Allison started, hearing the gasp her brother couldn’t hold back as Patch had been shot.

____

“Don’t.” Diego bit, “I should’ve been there.”

____

“You couldn’t’ve known Diego.” Allison countered.

____

“I should’ve been there.” Diego repeated, a glare set on his face and eyes glued to the screen.

____

_With Eudora now dead, Hazel stands up from the floor, grabbing his gun and pointing it at her, just in case. Cha-Cha on the other hand, notices that the briefcase was now missing from its spot in the vent, and calls Hazel over. Hazel, noticing that Klaus was gone, he said, “Couldn’t have gone far.”_

____

_“That’s not the only problem.” Cha-Cha said._

____

_And Hazel realized, “The briefcase.” The two fled the room, trying to find Klaus and the briefcase before he could get too far, or worse, use it._

____

_Klaus on the other hand, was now safely on a bus, still holding the briefcase and only wearing his jacket, the towel, and his slippers. Now that he was safe, at least for now, from Hazel and Cha-Cha, Klaus decided to open the briefcase to see what was inside, hoping it was money._

____

_Instead of getting a briefcase full of money or treasure, Klaus disappeared in a flash of blue from the bus. His new location, unclear._

____

Watching himself be thrown into the time and place where he’d meet, and lose, the love of his life, Klaus’s eyes welled with tears and he fought back the sob that wanted to overtake him. His on screen disappearance earned him some concerned looks from several of his siblings, regardless of if they knew what happened after he’d disappeared or not.

____

_The screen jumped to Luther depositing a now sleeping Five into Diego’s bed at the gym as Diego left Delores on a chair. “Funny.” Diego said as he reached Luther and the sleeping Five, “If I didn’t know he was such a prick, I’d say he looks almost adorable in his sleep.”_

____

_“Well, don’t worry.” Luther said, “He’ll sober up eventually. And be back to his normal, unpleasant self.”_

____

_“Yeah,” Diego sighed, “I can’t wait that long.” Already walking towards his workbench, Diego said, “I need to find out what his connection is with these lunatics before someone else dies.”_ Diego now felt like he’d been punched in the gut, realizing the irony of the situation is future self had been presented.

____

_As Diego reached his workbench, fiddling with something, Luther said, “All that stuff he was saying before.” Diego heard a thud coming from above them, signifying that someone was coming down to the basement as Luther continued, “What do you think he meant by that?”_

____

_Instead of answering, Diego and Luther heard the footsteps Diego had heard moments earlier getting closer and closer to them. Diego pulled out one of his knives as he signaled to Luther to be quiet. He quickly approached the door, pulling it open just a crack and ready to attack whoever was on the other side of it as Al yelled, “You throw another one of those goddamn knives at me, I’m pressin’ charges.”_

____

_Diego relaxed slightly and opened the door fully, letting Al just past the doorframe of the room. Al told Diego that some lady called Detective Blotch or something called asking for his help at the motel. Diego realizing it was Eudora that had called, and also realizing that the brother she’d found was Klaus and not Five, he rushed out; leaving Luther with Five._

____

_As his siblings watch him arrive at the motel, only to find Eudora’s body,_ with nervous, anxious, and tense energy for him; Diego once again couldn’t help but blame himself for her death, because he wasn’t there when she needed him.

____

_Future Diego only left Eudora when he heard the police sirens and lights approaching the motel._ The screen faded to black on Eudora’s body being left in the dark hotel room as the familiar text appeared on the screen, ‘The End of Episode Four of Ten: Man On The Moon. Up Next, Episode Five of Ten: Number Five.’ Once again, the VHS player spit out the tape and Allison grabbed it, placing it back in the box with the other tapes.

____

Just as the tape left Allison’s fingers, their mother rung the bell their father had her use for their meals. The six Hargreeves silently left their father’s study, Klaus and Diego both looked miserable, while Allison, Luther, and Ben were quite concerned about them, and Five was already trying to figure out a plan of action based on what they’d already seen to fix everything and prevent the apocalypse.

____

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING!
> 
> Please let me know what you think so far.
> 
> Once again, please let me know if there are any glaring mistakes that I've missed.
> 
> TWO THINGS!
> 
> ONE - Would you guys like me to include the six of them at lunch with Vanya? And if so, would you like it to be its own chapter or at the beginning of the fifth episode?
> 
> TWO - If you'd like to help me out, please fill this out -> https://forms.gle/L7eAkrSKBcQqeBHG9 <\- It would be much appreciated but please don't feel obligated to do so. Thank you!
> 
> EDIT (4/17) - I've written like three pages of fluff between Allison, Klaus, and Vanya for the beginning of the next chapter. Thank you everyone that has commented with input for the next chapter or left kudos. I'm planning to update this every Wednesday, since I'm still balancing school work, this, and other projects.
> 
> EDIT (4/19) - Make that five pages of fluff.


	6. Number Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luther, Diego, Alison, Klaus, Five, and Ben watch episode five, Number Five. Plus a lunch break and some fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAHHHHH, I'M SO SORRY THIS IS A DAY LATE! NEXT CHAPTER SHOULD BE UP NEXT WEDNESDAY!
> 
> If it makes up for this chapter being late, it's my longest chapter so far by roughly 20 pages. (On google docs)

As the six of them arrived to the kitchen in the basement, rather than the dining room they ate at when their father was eating with them, Vanya was already waiting behind her chair; and if the flour Five noticed on her skirt was anything to go by, he’d say she’d been helping mom with lunch and the unfrosted cupcakes that Klaus was already eyeing.

Their seats in the kitchen were practically the same as they were in the dining room, but occasionally someone would want to sit by someone, or away from someone, than they normally did. And today, Allison and Ben were switching seats at Allison’s request. She wanted to talk to Vanya during lunch and Ben didn’t seem to mind since he was still next to Klaus, who was already bouncing back from whatever was going to happen in the next episode.

They all settled into their seats, Diego and Vanya were a bit later since they’d decided to help their mom serve lunch today. Pogo was nowhere in sight and once they each had a plate and their water glasses in front of them, their mother started to decorate the cupcakes that had sufficiently cooled.

In a stark contrast to their typical meals with their father, most of the Hargreeves children were talking with each other about anything that came to mind, other than what they’d been watching or the future, obviously. As most of her siblings talked, Vanya looked bewildered that they’d break their father’s rules, especially Luther and Ben, despite him not being there. This was the first meal they’d had since their return that there father wasn’t there, and they were eager to start breaking rules whenever they could and not get in trouble.

“Hey Vanya,” Allison said, gaining her sister’s nervous attention and most of their brothers’, even though they were trying to hide it, “what’ve you been doing today?” It was an easy enough question to start building a relationship with her sister. Right?

“Oh, um,” Vanya started, nervousness and surprise that not only was her sister talking to her, nicely, but that Allison was also sitting next to her instead of by Luther like she normally did, “well I’ve had lessons with Pogo, I read a few chapters of the book I’m reading, and I made cupcakes with mom.”

Allison was surprised that her sister hadn’t practiced her violin yet today. In their current timeline, their father had just given Vanya the violin a few months ago and she was still excited about the one of few things their father ever gave her. “You haven’t practiced your violin yet?”

The look on Vanya’s face was full of surprise, like she was surprised her sister had even noticed her new hobby, and it hurt, but it was fair. Vanya started, “Oh, um, I just -” her voice got gradually quieter as she talked, to the point Allison couldn’t hear her.

“What did you say?” Allison asked, hoping her sister didn’t think she sounded mean.

“Oh, um, I said that, I didn’t want to be too loud when I was practicing,” Vanya explained, which confused Allison because before Vanya practiced almost all the time, unless one of them yelled at her to shut up, god they were assholes. “I just didn’t want to interrupt whatever dad has you guys doing.” At this point Vanya wasn’t looking Allison in the eye anymore, her hair was hanging in front of her face, hiding her face, just like she did in the first timeline.

Allison was starting to feel a bit defeated in her attempts to bond with her sister, but then she noticed that Vanya, her, and Klaus were practically finished with their lunches; Luther and Diego had been talking about something, not fighting actually talking, for a majority of lunch while Ben and Five were mostly listening to them, adding their own input from time to time. Allison got an idea. She whispered her idea to Klaus, who quickly nodded in agreeance before she called, “Hey mom.”

Their mother half-turned from her cleaning of the countertops, which weren’t even dirty, to face her children, “What is it Allison dear?”

“Could Vanya, Klaus, and I be excused?” Allison asked, getting weird looks from all her siblings but for different reasons, “I want to show Vanya and Klaus something in my room before we keep working.” Yes she was kind of lying to her mother, but she was also half telling the truth. So that counts for something.

Once their mother nodded Allison quickly pulled Klaus and Vanya from the kitchen and all the way up to her room. When they got to her room, Allison let go of Klaus and Vanya’s wrists and began searching through her vanity for her hair accesories, the little clips she was looking for hardly ever worked on her hair, but they’d be perfect for Vanya’s.

As Allison searched, Klaus pulled Vanya to sit on the bed with him and had her turn around so he could try braiding her hair. In the current timeline he shouldn’t have much experience with braiding either of his sisters’ hair, but coming from the first timeline Klaus had plenty of practice from braiding Allison’s curly hair and Vanya’s straight hair. As he started braiding her hair, he told Vanya to let him know if he was pulling too hard or if anything was too tight.

After a minute or two of searching Allison finally found the small hair clips she’d been looking for, just as she found them Klaus had finished the first of the two small braids he’d wanted to do in Vanya’s hair. “Allison dear, do you happen to have a hair tie, some clips, and maybe a red bow that the lovely Vanya and I could borrow?” Klaus asked with a laugh, he’d tried talking in some posh accent but it wasn’t very good and made all three of them laugh. 

“Absolutely.” Allison replied, handing the clips to Klaus. Allison had already gotten the clips out and grabbed one of the hair ties off the top of her vanity and also handed it to Klaus. Klaus pinned the first braid to the back of Vanya’s head with two of the clips before starting a second braid. Once she’d given the hair tie to her brother for her sister, Allison started digging back through her hair accesories, knowing that their father had given her a few red bows.

He’d only given her the bows, not Vanya, and he tried to get the bows and match the Academy uniforms but they never looked good enough in her hair, the bows always moved from being in the center of her hair to being off-center enough that their father would ridicule her for looking unkempt during training, so the bows were never worth the effort to put in, and take out, and fix everyday, all day long.

After looking for another minute or two, very close to just dumping the bin of accessories on the floor, she found two of the bows. One of them was a big, bright red bow, and taking a look at the second braid Klaus was already halfway done with, Allison knew it wouldn’t work. The second bow on the other hand, was perfect. It was big enough that they’d all see it, but it wasn’t too big that their sister would be embarrassed about the extra attention the bow would be getting her. It even had a little umbrella in a circle stitched into one of the tails, probably by their mother.

Allison handed the second bow to Klaus just as he finished the second braid, who looked back at her with a grin, he undoubtedly noticed the umbrella on the bow. He unclipped the first braid and tied the ends of the two braids together with the hair tie Allison had given him. Once the hair tie was firmly holding the two braids together, Klaus tied the bow on top of the hair tie. Checking his work, he clipped little parts of Vanya’s hair that was sticking out back onto her head. 

Once Klaus was satisfied with his work, he pulled his hands away and cheered, “And done!” Allison and Klaus each grabbed one of Vanya’s arms, and Klaus’s other hand over her eyes, they pulled her onto the chair in front of Allison’s vanity. Waiting a few seconds for, dramatic effect, then Klaus pulled the hand away from Vanya’s eyes.

Watching the wary joy overtake the nervousness on Vanya’s face, Klaus and Allison felt like they’d definitely made headway on building a relationship with their sister. One of the biggest smiles either of her siblings had ever seen, seemed to have found a long-term place on Vanya’s face. Vanya had yet to realize that the braids were keeping her from letting her hair fall in front of her face, which is what Allison and Klaus had wanted.

Since Vanya hadn’t said anything about it, only looking at it in the mirror and her fingers getting close to touching it but not wanting to mess up anything, Klaus asked, “So, do you like it?” to which Vanya quickly nodded before silently pulling both Allison and Klaus into a hug.

It was definitely one of the best hugs Klaus had ever been a part of, and he didn’t want it to end, but Luther’s annoying voice, it wasn’t annoying but right now it was annoying Klaus, called from downstairs for him and Allison to hurry up whatever they were doing so they could finish their ‘work’ as Allison had called it. 

Vanya deflated a bit, realizing the little time she got with her siblings and that they were being nice to her was over. Klaus started to walk back downstairs, knowing Allison wanted some alone time with Vanya before Five jumped up here and dragged her back downstairs. Just as he reached Allison’s doorframe Klaus turned around, “Same time tomorrow V?” he asked with a wink, and when Vanya nodded, the smile working its way back on her face, Klaus left his two sisters and went to calm Luther enough that he’d stop yelling.

Allison watched as Vanya’s gaze moved from the now empty doorframe back to the mirror on the vanity. “Vanya,” Allison said as she pulled her sister from the vanity back to her bed, “there’s something I want, no, need to tell you.”

“What is it Allison?” Vanya asked, masking most of the worry that had bubbled up, worrying about whatever it was her sister was about to tell her, “Did something happen?”

“No, no, no, no. Nothing happened. Don’t worry.” Allison quickly assured, “It’s just that,” God why is this so hard to say? It shouldn’t be hard to say ‘I love you’ to your own sister. Allison said it to Claire everyday since she’d been born. “I, we, you,” Allison took a deep breath, gathered her thoughts, and calmed herself down, “I love you. And I love being your sister.” Allison made sure she was looking Vanya in the eye, as she finished, “You know that right?”

The surprise on Vanya’s face melted into joy. Vanya practically threw herself onto Allison in a hug, nearly knocking them both of the bed, which caused both girls to dissolve into laughter. Once they’d calmed themselves down Vanya said, “I love you too. Especially being your sister.” Vanya started to look a bit nervous again before she suggested, “Maybe we can start doing more stuff together?” Allison nodded, excited that Vanya wanted to do more things with her as much as she wanted to do more things with Vanya.

Then Allison got another idea. “How about we have a sleepover? Tonight.” As soon as the suggestion passed Allison’s lips, Vanya quickly nodded before the two dissolved into laughter once again.

A flash of blue in the room caused the laughter between the two sisters to cease. “Hi Vanya.” Five greeted before switching to Allison, “Allison you need to finish up soon; Luther is this close,” his fingers were barely not touching each other, “to coming up here and dragging you back to dad’s office.”

“What are you guys doing in dad’s office?” Vanya asked, because Five never learned to shut up, which seems to be a common thing between their brothers, “We’re not allowed to go in there, especially when he’s not here.”

Five’s glare that had been set on Allison, softened as his gaze moved back to Vanya, “Dad gave us permission to work in his office today on really boring team bonding shit. Luther and Diego have been fighting too much.” It was a reasonable lie, except Luther and Diego’s fighting had drastically decreased since they’d returned, but both Allison and Five remembered how much the two used to fight during their childhood. And Vanya nodded, accepting Five’s explanation, before Five jumped away in another flash of blue.

Allison pushed herself off her bed and Vanya soon followed. “As much as I’d rather stay with you, I better go before another one of our brothers come up here.” And it was very true, as much as she’d rather spend more time bonding with her sister than be stuck in a room with their brothers having to watch and re-experience what was easily one of the two worst weeks in Hargreeves history, the other week being when Ben died, they didn’t like thinking about that week too much, Allison knew she’d have to do it if she wanted to help her sister and her brothers as best she could.

Vanya once again nodded in understanding and the two started walking out the door of Allison’s room. Just before they left Allison’s room, she remembered the hair clips she was going to give Vanya were still sitting on her vanity. 

As Allison ran back to her vanity and grabbed the little box of clips, Vanya waited for her sister by the door just outside her room. After grabbing the clips Allison returned to Vanya and handed the box to her once again confused sister. Just as Vanya started to ask Allison about he clips being practically shoved into her hands, Allison explained, “I want you to have them.” At Vanya’s confused look Allison continued, “They work much better in your hair than mine anyway.” 

Vanya accepted the hair clips with a nod and a smile before the two sisters parted ways. Vanya returned to their mother back in the kitchen, saying she had art lessons that afternoon, while Allison returned to her brothers in their father’s office.

Just as she re-entered the office, Luther was putting the third tape into the VHS player. The six siblings settled back into their seats as the screen illuminated and showed the familiar text that read, “Episode Five of Ten: Number Five’.

_The screen switched from the text to a 13 yeard old Five with Delores in the apocalypse, it showed Five pulling Delores in a red, squeaky wagon as ash and smoke litter the air around them._ Allison tried once more to send Five a concerned look, he still hadn’t told them much about his time in the apocalypse; and based on his unreceptiveness towards any of the concerned looks his siblings were sending him as they watched _him literally grow up and grown old alone in the apocalypse were any sign, it wasn’t going to change anytime soon._

Five watched as, _in his older age, his future self sat with Delores in the ruins of the Argyle Library, talking about doing something with Delores that he couldn’t quite remember anymore. It mustn't have been very important to him when he was working to stop the apocalypse. As Five continued to watch, he and his siblings watched as the Handler arrived and before she offered him anything the scene jumped to Five and Luther in Diego’s room at the gym in 2019._

_Five had just been telling Luther about the apocalypse, telling him that they had about four days before the apocalypse and Luther was a bit annoyed that Five hadn’t said anything about it sooner. Five told Luther that they’d tried and failed to stop the apocalypse the first time without him, then the screen showed 13 year old Five finding four of his siblings’ dead bodies again._

_The screen thankfully moved back to Five and Luther in the gym’s basement. Five showed Luther the prosthetic eye that he’d found clutched in Luther’s dead hand, assuming it was from whoever caused the apocalypse, which wasn’t entirely wrong but not exactly right._

_As the two talked about the dead lead of the eye, Diego literally stormed back into the room, “Piece of shit.” He muttered, marching towards Five, absolutely pissed. “Do you have any idea what you just did?” Diego hissed as he approached Five and Luther._

_Luther had at this point stood and stopped Diego’s angry approach towards Five. As Luther held Diego off the ground, which got a laugh out of Klaus, Diego yelled, “Nope, let me-” And upon realizing his feet were no longer on the floor he continued to yell, “Get your ape hands off of me!”_

_“I can do this as long as it takes you to calm down.” Luther said, seriousness heavy in his voice._

_After another few seconds of struggle and rage from Diego, he calmed down enough and gritted out a “Fine.” Luther then let go of Diego, who landed back on his feet in a huff. Seeing that his brother had calmed down a bit, Luther asked, “Now, you wanna tell us what you’re talkin’ about?”_

_Diego’s glare hadn’t left Five since he’d returned from the motel. “Our brother’s been pretty busy since he got back. He was in the middle of that shootout at Griddy’s, and then at Gimble Brothers, after the guys in masks attacked the Academy, looking for him.” Diego bit, and as he rehashed everything that had happened between Five and Hazel and Cha-Cha since Five’s return to their family, Diego became more and more angry, knowing it had all somehow lead to Eudora’s death._

_Five cooly replied, “None of which is any of your concern.”_

_“It is now.” Diego hissed back, “They just killed my friend.”_

_Luther, also wanting answers from Five, asked, “Who are they, Five?”_

_“They work for my former employer.” Five replied, “A woman called The Handler. She sent them, to stop me. Then, soon as Diego’s friend got in their way, well, fair game.”_

_“And now they’re my fair game.” Diego bit back, “And I’m gonna see to it they pay.” at that Diego began to storm out of the room once again._

_As he stormed out Five called, “That would be a mistake, Diego. They’ve killed people far more dangerous than you.”_

_“Yeah,” Diego called back, already practically out the door, “we’ll see about that.” And he was gone with the slam of the door._ He was still a bit bitter that he hadn’t been able to get revenge on Hazel and Cha-Cha for killing Eudora, but he knew it wasn’t what she would’ve wanted. _The screen followed Diego as he stormed out to his car and had an angry and upset breakdown over what had happened to Eudora and the seemingly impossible task of getting revenge for her._

_While he was in the midst of his breakdown, Diego remembered the Griddy’s receipt he had grabbed from the motel room before he left Eudora. Diego then drives off, presumably to Griddy’s._

_The scene moved back to Luther and Five in the gym’s basement, discussing Five’s former employer, The Handler. As Five told Luther about The Handler and The Commission, the screen showed the siblings the event of his recruitment in the apocalypse._

_“Who the hell are you?” Older apocalypse Five yelled at a woman with gray hair in a trench coat, hat, sunglasses, and heels, and was holding a briefcase._

_“I’m here to help.” The woman, presumably The Handler, called back._ Five simply glared at the woman on screen, remembering the hell she put him through while working for her, twice.

_Apocalypse Five was extremely cautious, or paranoid, about the woman’s presence, since he’d searched everywhere for another living person and found no one, and he yelled back, “Tell me why I shouldn’t put a bullet through your head right now!”_

_“Because,” The woman said, her heels clicking as she approached Five, ignoring the gun he had aimed at her, “if you did, you wouldn’t hear the offer I’m about to make you. Which would be rather tragic, given your, current circumstances.”_

“Is she always this cryptic?” Allison asked, which received a nod from Five who still hadn’t moved his glare from the woman on screen.

_The grey-haired woman continued, “I work for an organization called The Commission. We are tasked with the preservation of the time continuum through manipulation and removals.”_

“Wait!” Klaus yelled, popping up from his slouched position in their father’s chair, “What if Leonard, Harold, whatever the hell his name is, was, whatever, what if he was working with this Commission? I mean the lady said they work through manipulation and he manipulated Vanya enough to cause the apocalypse. There were other factors than just him, but still!”

Several of his siblings looked like they may have been contemplating the possibility of Harold Jenkins working for or with The Commission to cause the apocalypse when Five snorted, “He’s way too stupid and sloppy to work for The Commission.” Well, there went Klaus’s theory.

_Back on screen, Older Five yelled back, “I don’t understand.”_

“Ha! Five isn’t as smart as he thinks he is!”

“Shut up Klaus.”

“Never.”

“Don’t make me come over there.”

“Or what?” Seeing the look on Five’s face Klaus quickly backed down, “Sorry. Never mind.”

_“Sometimes, people,” The woman clarified, kind of, “make choices that alter time. Free will, don’t get me started. When that happens, we dispatch one of our agents to, eliminate the threat.” At that Five thought she meant she was there to eliminate him and repositioned the gun he was holding to be aimed at her head, to which she replied, “No, no, no, no.” with a laugh, “You misunderstand me. You’re not a target. You’re a recruit.” Five lowered the gun again as she continued, “I’ve come to offer you a job, Number Five. We’ve had our eye on you for quite some time. And we think you have a lot of potential. Your survival skills have made you quite a celebrity back at headquarters. That and your ability to jump through time.”_

_“You saying that I,” Five asked, “could actually leave here? Go, go back?”_ Allison felt her heart break at the hope that tinged older Five’s voice. It was one thing for his snarky 13 year old self to explain how badly he wanted to return to them, but it was another to hear her, now much older, brother say it with such emotion and vulnerability in his voice.

_“In return for five years of service.” The woman replied, no emotion in her voice, “Once your contract is done, you can retire to the time and place of your choosing with a pension plan to boot.”_ Somehow, Ben had a hard time believing that this Commission would just let the people they recruited and trained leave them and retire after just five years of work.

_Older Five was also skeptical of the woman, but for a different reason, “If you can alter time, why not just stop all of this from ever happening?”_ Klaus couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him she realized the irony of his brother working for the organization that orchestrated the apocalypse their sister caused.

_“That’s quite impossible, I’m afraid.” The woman said, “You see, all of this, it was supposed to happen.” As she said this, she gestured around to the ruins surrounding them._

_“That’s insane.” Five called back, “The end of everything?”_

_“Not everything.” The woman said with a smirk, “Just the end of, something.”_

“What does that even mean?” Luther asked, this woman gave away no useful information. And it was infuriating.

_“So,” The woman continued, sticking out her hand, “do we have an agreement?”_

_The screen switched to a montage of some of the events and disasters that Five had a part in orchestrating during his time with the Commission, such as the Hindenburg Disaster, various assassinations of political, royal, and militaristic figures, ensuring wars started, lasted, and ended, before finishing with his last job, left unfinished in Dallas. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy._

_The screen showed Five, now working for the Commission, standing behind a fence, a gun pointed at the road the president was due to ride down, and a radio hanging on the fence, describing where the president and First Lady were in Dallas at the time._

_But instead of taking the killing shot at the president like he was assigned to do, Five used his powers and created the time portal that his six siblings had seen in the first episode, the one Klaus through a fire extinguisher through, and used the portal to return to his siblings in 13 year old body, eight days before the apocalypse._

_Back in 2019 with Luther and Five, Luther asked, “So, you were a hitman?”_

_“Yes.” Five replied shortly._

_“I mean, you hade a code, right?” Luther asked, “You didn’t kill just anybody.”_

_“No code.” Five replied, “We took out anyone who messed with the timeline.”_

_Luther, surprised at this asked, “What about innocent people?”_

_“It was the only way I could get back here.” Five said, his typical bite missing in his voice._

_“But that’s murder.” Luther gasped, acting as if he and his siblings hadn’t killed or seriously hurt people, including each other, through their entire childhood on a weekly basis._

_“Jesus, Luther, grow up.” Five sneered, “We’re not kids anymore. There’s no such things as good guys or bad guys. There’s just people, goin’ about their lives. But when the world ends, all those people die, including our family.” Luther looked a mix of confused and surprised, causing Five to scoff and continued, “Time changes everything.”_

_With the hiss of a bus, the scene jumped to a mostly empty bus where seconds later in a burst of blue Klaus appeared on one of the seats, clutching the briefcase, in a uniform of some kind, blood dried on his hands, and a despairing and lost look on his dirtied face._ Klaus blindly reached for Ben’s hand, needing some form of comfort, and Ben grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. 

_The newly returned Klaus to 2019 began crying whilst still on the bus,_ all of his siblings were sending him their own concerned and sympathetic looks as he cried on screen. _And at the next bus stop, Klaus stumbled off the bus, briefcase in hand, and just as the bus began to pull off Klaus started to attempt to destroy the briefcase on a nearby bench, the briefcase sparking and zapping as it was repeatedly beaten against the bench._

_Klaus threw the briefcase which erupted in a small explosion as he heart-wrenchingly screamed and sobbed, curling up into a ball on the sidewalk._ And if Klaus, or any of his siblings had tears in their eyes or running down their cheeks, no one said anything.

Five had been angry when he’d learned his brother had destroyed the briefcase in 2019, but seeing how much hurt the damn thing had given his brother; Five was glad Klaus had destroyed it.

_The scene jumped to Hazel and Cha-Cha searching for the briefcase at the motel, killing the maid in the process, hoping the briefcase was still there and not with their escaped hostage. The two, giving up on their fruitless search, determined that the briefcase had to be with Klaus. As the two bickered, tension heavy in the room, the whooshing of one of the Commission’s message tubes interrupting them._

_Cha-Cha dumped the message into Hazel’s hands and he unfurled it and read, “Violation code 6870-4A, unauthorized round-trip travel to 1968. Explanation required.”_

_Hazel shoved the paper back into Cha-Cha’s hands as he returned the tube and she said, “Shit, the junkie. What the hell does he think this is? A travel agency? Damn it Hazel.”_

“ _I know.” Hazel bit back, “If we don’t get that case back soon, we’re screwed.”_

_“We wouldn’t be if you stuck to protocol and carried the briefcase with you.” Cha-Cha countered._

_Hazel yelled back, “Well, maybe if you carried it once in a while, we wouldn’t have this problem!”_

“Trouble in paradise.” Klaus laughed, except it wasn’t full of mirth as his laugh usually was.

_The two continued to complain and bicker for a few more moments before the two split up. Cha-Cha was going to try and dig up any information she could on the Hargreeves while Hazel was sent to find Klaus._

_The screen switched to Vanya in her apartment answering the door due to someone, being Allison, knocking. As Vanya opened the door and recognizing the person on the other side as her sister she said a quick “Hey.” and Allison responded with a “Morning.” as Vanya resuming getting ready to leave. “Hey, nice scarf.” Allison said, closing the door behind her, two coffees and a small brown bag in her hands. She moved further into the apartment, noticing how much effort her sister seemed to be putting into her look that day, “Are you wearing makeup?”_

_“Just a little.” Vanya replied, sounding a bit embarrassed that Allison had noticed._

“Aw, Van-van’s all grown up.” Klaus awed, wiping an imaginary tear from his face. Ben smiled at his brother’s gimmicks, he seemed to be doing better from whatever he’d re-experienced before the scene on the bus.

_Vanya was looking for something in her fridge of all places, “Damn.”_

“Asshole.” Allison muttered, now realizing what had happened in the past/future. This shit was confusing. _“What’s wrong?” On screen Allison asked._

_“I ran out of my meds yesterday.” Vanya said, “I usually keep my refill in my butter container,-”_

“That’s a weird place to store drugs.”

“You’ve hid drugs in weirder places Klaus.”

“Shut up Ben.”

_“-but all I seem to have is butter, so.” Vanya continued, blaming the lack of medication on her forgetfulness;_ which Diego knew was a bullshit excuse because her stupid book showed them all that she didn’t forget important things like that.

_“Well,” Allison said, not really sure how to respond to Vanya’s medication issue, “I brought you a surprise” picking up a coffee and the bag she’d carried in, “Bomboloni, from Petrola’s bakery.”_

“What the hell is a bomboloni?” Diego asked.

“It’s a doughnut.” Allison said.

“An Italian doughnut.” Ben added; he’d always wanted to explore the world, not while on missions, and Italy was near the top of his list.

_Back on screen, Allison continued, “Just like when we were kids.”_

_“That is so sweet,” Vanya said, pulling on her jacket, “but, I’m gonna have to save it, ‘cause I’m meeting Leonard for breakfast.”_

“Rejected!” Klaus called before a quick, “Sorry Allie.”

_“Flowers yesterday, brunch this morning.” Allison said, “You’re really jumpin’ in with both feet.”_ She hadn’t realized how critical she sounded in regards to her sister’s new relationship, no wonder Vanya had reacted so badly.

_“What’s wrong with that?” Vanya asked, it had been Allison that’d told her she’d never been in a serious relationship before and now she was seeming to criticize the fact she was trying to possibly start one._

_Allison countered, “Well, how well do you know him?”_ They had just met a few days ago, how well could they possibly know each other? But, then again, they’d known Vanya for nearly 3 decades and didn’t know shit about her unless someone had told them.

_“Well enough to get breakfast, if that’s what you’re asking.” Vanya scoffed, annoyed her sister was trying to butt into her relationships._

_“It’s just,” Allison said, “after yesterday, I don’t. I have a bad feeling.”_

_“Allison.” Vanya sighed, rolling her eyes_ which shocked Klaus, he’d never seen his sister with so much sass, _“I haven’t seen you in 12 years, and all of a sudden you’re giving me advice?”_ Allison had been hurt when her sister had said that, but now it made sense. She would’ve been annoyed too if someone she hadn’t seen in over a decade, regardless of the fact they were adopted siblings, suddenly decided to start giving her advice about anything.

_“I’m still your sister,” Allison said as Vanya moved to leave, “and I am concerned about you, and him.”_

_“What are you concerned about?” Vanya questioned._ Klaus wished he had some popcorn right now, who would’ve guessed his sisters bickering about a guy would be so entertaining.

_“Leonard seems perfectly charming, perfectly thoughtful.” Allison said with a sigh, both were valid points from what the Hargreeves has seen, both from the man himself and the screen, “Perfect, really. But I’ve been around long enough to know that when something seems too perfect, it’s usually anything but.”_

_“Like a woman who’s based her whole life on rumors.” Vanya retorted, a ghost of a smile appearing on her face, “Some people actually mean what they say.” And with that Vanya left Allison in her apartment while she went to meet Leonard._ Klaus was honestly shook at how much bite and sass Vanya had, for a while he’d honestly thought she didn’t have any of that in her.

_And clearly on screen Allison was just as surprised as Klaus, her mouth agape with a gasped “Vanya!” as her sister left._

_The screen jumped from Allison in Vanya’s apartment to Leonard waiting for Vanya in some coffee shop. As soon as Vanya saw Leonard waiting by the shop’s counter near the window a smile spread across her face,_ causing Allison to wonder if saying a few nice words and putting some, seemingly, guileless effort was really all it took for Vanya to trust someone so whole-heartedly.

_While Vanya took off her jacket and put it on an unused stool, she noticed Leonard’s eyes hadn’t left her and asked “What?” with a laugh._

_“Nothing.” Leonard replied with a laugh of his own, “You just seem happy.”_

_“Well, honestly, I feel the best I have felt in a long time.” Vanya replied,_ and Allison couldn’t help but wonder how long her sister had been feeling poorly and if they’d just ignored it like they used to ignore her.

_“Oh, yeah?” Leonard asked,_ an unnerving smile for all the Hargreeves, except Vanya it seemed, _on his face._

_“I mean,” Vanya continued, “it’s crazy. I’ve been on this medication since, I can’t even remember. And I ran out yesterday, and I feel great.”_

Diego could practically see the gears turning in the asshole’s head as he figured out how to best manipulate his sister into doing whatever the hell he wanted from her. _“If you feel better without it, then why bother even taking it?” Leonard asked, “Oh, speaking of drugs,-”_

“Weirdest segway ever.”

“Klaus-”

“Don’t start with me Benjamin!”

_“-I got you a cup of coffee.” Leonard finished, gesturing to the mug of coffee sitting on the counter in front of Vanya._

_“Oh, thanks.” Vanya said, “Allison came by earlier and brought me one. Think I’m good.”_ If it had been any of his other siblings that rejected as much coffee as Vanya did in the days leading up to the apocalypse, Five would’ve been pissed, but since it was who’d been his best friend for roughly 13 years, he was a bit more forgiving.

_“Well, you two are spending a lot of quality time together, huh?” Leonard asked, taking a sip of his own coffee._ It was such a simple observation that an outsider wouldn’t find it suspicious or odd, but Ben noticed the underlying jabs this jackass kept throwing at his siblings.

_“Sort of.” Vanya agreed, “We haven’t seen each other in years. Ever since she’s been back, she’s been, trying to be a big sister.” Allison hadn’t seen it that way before, but, like hearing herself sound so condescending towards her sister a few moments earlier, she noticed how her behavior would’ve annoyed her is it had been someone else doing it to her. _At Leonard’s understanding noise Vanya continued, “Even though we’re the same age.”__

__

_“You are?” Leonard asked, sounding shocked while also sounding like he was mocking her, which Vanya didn’t pick up on._

__

_“Yeah, we were all born on the same day.” Vanya said, reminding him of a fact he knew quite well._

__

_“Right, right.” Leonard said, acting as if he’d just remembered, “The whole umbrella thing. I forgot that. That must’ve been weird.”_

__

_Vanya replied, “You have no idea. I mean, no birthday boy, no birthday girl, just birthday kids.” That was weird. “I mean, can you imagine sharing your birthday with six world-famous assholes-”_

__

“Ouch.” Klaus whined.

__

_Vanya continued, “-who all know they’re better than you?”_

__

“Ugh,” Klaus grunted, “double ouch.” now holding his hands over his heart as if he’d been hurt.

__

_“I can’t.” Leonard said with a laugh, “You know, I don’t think your sister likes me very much.”_

__

_“No. No, it’s.” Vanya replied, defending her sister, “She just doesn’t think I’m capable of making my own decisions.”_ Allison wanted to defend herself, but it had been what she’d been thinking, and she felt like shit for it now.

__

_Leonard noticed Vanya seemed distracted, she had been putting salt into her coffee instead of sugar, and she told him, “I got a call earlier, they’re holding auditions for first chair in my orchestra.”_

__

“What happened to the Helen-lady? I thought she was first chair?” Klaus questioned.

__

_While Leonard asked, “Wait a second, what happened to the, what happened to the other girl?”_

__

_“I don’t know,” Vanya said, “she just stopped showing up.”_

__

_“Well, good.” Leonard said, sounding quite enthusiastic, “That’s great news. You get a chance to audition.”_

__

_“No.” Vanya immediately replied, “No, I’m, I’m not ready for that.”_ Five wished his sister had some more confidence in herself and her talent, even though he knew a lot of it was due to their father, them, and her medication.

__

_“Vanya. You are an amazing violinist.” Leonard said, “You already taught me how to play ‘Frere Jacques’ in under an hour. That’s pretty impressive. I’m telling you, if you, believe in yourself for once, just once, great things are gonna happen for you.” As Leonard finished showering their sister in compliments and motivation to at least audition for first chair, a smile twitched on Vanya’s face._

__

_The screen jumped from Vanya and Leonard to a somewhat familiar scene of Klaus in the bathtub._

__

_As Klaus sunk into the bath, a glazed film over his eyes, the dog tags he now wore were much more noticeable and the sounds of helicopters whirring, Klaus’s voice calling someone named Dave, and a buzzing light got him some concerned looks from his siblings. And when his future self sat up in the tub with a gasp,_ Klaus was getting varying degrees of concerned looks from all of his present siblings, which he tried to ignore as best he could.

__

_The next scene was Klaus in his room, getting dressed, as Five entered with a knock on the open door, asking, “You okay?”_

__

_“Yeah, I just,” Klaus covered, “Long night.”_

__

_“More than one, from the looks of it.” Five countered, having noticed the bloody footprints from the bathtub to Klaus’s room._

__

_“Yeah.” Klaus agreed, possibly not entirely listening to Five._

__

_“Don’t remember the dog tags.” Five noted, wanting an explanation for Klaus’s new accessory._

__

_“Uh, yeah,” Klaus said with a grunt as he pulled on a new shirt, “they belonged to a friend.”_

__

_Nothing seemed to be slipping by Five about Klaus’s changed look as he asked, “How about that new tattoo?”_

__

_Klaus looked at the ‘new’ tattoo, for him it had been months since he’d gotten it, for the rest of his siblings it had only been a day or two, “You know, I don’t totally remember even getting it. Like I said, it was a long night.” Klaus said as he shooed Five away._

__

_“You did it, didn’t you?” Five asked with an excited smirk._

__

_“What are you talkin’ about?” Klaus asked, trying to get out of whatever Five clearly wanted to talk about._

__

_Klaus sat in the edge of his bed as Five moved further into the room, saying, “You know, I can recognize the symptoms, Klaus.”_

__

_“Symptoms of what?” Klaus asked, sounding extremely tired._

__

_“The jet lag.” Five started, “Full body itch. The headache that feels like someone shoved a box of cotton up into your nose and through your brain. You gonna tell me about it?”_ God, why did Five want to master time travel so badly, it sounds fucking awful.

__

_“Your pals,” Klaus said, his head snapping up from his hands, “when they broke into the house and they couldn’t find you, they took me hostage instead.”_

__

_“And in return, you stole their briefcase.” Five realized, his smirk still firmly planted on his face._

__

_“Yeah.” Klaus sighed, “I thought there was money in it, or I could pawn it, you know, whatever. And then I opened it.”_

__

_Five had started pacing as Klaus talked, “And the next thing you knew, you were, where? Or should I say when?”_

__

_“What difference does it make?” Klaus asked, clearly wanting some peace and quiet, or as much quiet as he could get when dealing with ghosts 24/7. Klaus told Five he destroyed the briefcase, Five got mad, Klaus couldn’t care less and left Five in his own room, off to try and find a quiet place away from Five._

__

_The scene switched from Five writing a note to Hazel and Cha-Cha to Diego pulling his knife case out from under his bed. He put away most of his knives, remembering how he’d told Eudora to try things his way and that his way had gotten her killed. Diego took the case and headed for the front door of the Academy._

__

_Klaus was wandering around the halls of the Academy, seeing Pogo try to fix their mother, whom was still not functioning from when Diego had turned her off in the 2nd episode. Klaus continued to wander, going to the stairs, seeing the fallen chandelier, wondering what had happened._

__

_“You look like shit.” Diego told him as he passed._

__

_“Why, thank you.” Klaus said, before realizing Diego was leaving, “Hey, where are you going?”_

__

_“Nope.”_

__

_“What?”_

__

_“I’m not giving you a ride.” Diego said._

__

_“Oh, come on, man.” Klaus whined, “You know I can’t drive.”_

__

_“I don’t c-” Diego started._

__

_Klaus patted Diego’s chest and said, “Okay, great. I’ll just get my things. Two minutes.” And walked off to gather his things._

__

“You sure held out there Diego.”

__

“Can it Five.”

__

_The screen jumped back to the Argyle Public Library, where Allison was trying to research any information she could find on Leonard Peabody, not finding much. One thing she did find was his address. While Cha-Cha sat literally three feet away, reading Vanya’s book, doing her own research, but on the Hargreeves._

__

_The scene shifted to Hazel walking up to the counter at Griddy’s, not finding Klaus and the briefcase like he was supposed to be. Hazel and Agnes greeted each other, Agnes told him that she’d be going on her lunch break soon and he offered to join her, which she accepted._

__

_Jumping once more, this time back to Diego and Klaus, now in Diego’s car. Diego looked quite concerned for whatever had been causing his normally talkative brother to be so quiet. “You okay?” Diego asked, being the second person in under an hour to ask Klaus that._

__

_When Klaus didn’t respond Diego continued, “Wow. This is a first. My brother Klaus is silent. Last time you were this quiet, we were 12. Ran down the stairs wearing Grace’s heels, tripped over, and broke your jaw. How long was it wired shut again?”_ Diego now felt like such an ass, making fun of his brother when he’d clearly been struggling with something.

__

_“Eight weeks.” Klaus rasped back, eyes lazily looking out the window, searching for something._

__

_“Eight glorious weeks of bliss.” Diego replied._

__

_Klaus noticed something, a building, a veteran’s bar, and told Diego to let him out there. As Klaus ignored Diego’s second question of if he was okay, walking into the Veterans of Foreign Wars bar, helping himself to some shots from the bar, before walking over to a wall of photographs; one of which that Klaus was shown standing in with a group of men, one of which was Dave._

__

_Seeing the picture, the picture of Dave, Klaus started to softly cry. He seemed to be having a flashback of some kind, one they weren’t shown as opposed to the other flashbacks they had been shown so far. As he wiped the tears on his face, a veteran in the bar was shown watching him before pushing himself out of his seat before a familiar gloved hand grabbed Klaus’s shoulder._

__

_As Klaus turned and saw who it was he sighed, “Just go away, please.”_

__

_“Not until you talk to me.” Diego insisted, looking at the other pictures on the wall as Klaus continued to wipe the tears from his face._

__

_“Is that a threat?” Klaus asked, “You threatening me?”_

__

_“Hey, guys.” The veteran from before called, “This bar? It’s for vets only.”_

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_“I am a vet.” Klaus countered, not turning from the wall._

__

_“Really?” The veteran scoffed, “Where’d you serve?”_

__

_“None of your business.” Klaus snapped._

__

_“You got balls comin’ in here, pretendin’ you’re one of us.” The veteran said, god why couldn’t this guy just leave them alone? Klaus was clearly upset._

__

_“Oh, I have every right to be here,” Klaus hissed, turning from the wall to glare at the veteran trying to get them to leave, “just like you. Asshole.”_

__

_Diego tried to diffuse the situation, before it could brew into a full-blown bar fight; but the veteran wanted Klaus to apologize before the two could leave. Klaus did apologize, but not for going into the bar he was assumed to not be deserving of entering, rather he said, “I’d like to apologize, that you are depriving some village of their idiot!”_

__

Ben muttered an “Oh no.” before _the veteran on screen tried to punch Klaus, which he ducked and headbutted the veteran in return, starting a bar fight between him and Diego against every hot-headed veteran in the bar._

__

_Just as punches and screams could be heard in the bar, the screen switched to Hazel and Agnes sitting behind Griddy’s, eating lunch while bird-watching. Their conversation turned from birds to their lives. Hazel saying he used to enjoy his life, his work, but recently he noticed he hadn’t been enjoying life as much as he used to._

__

_Agnes in turn told him what she still wanted to do in her life, “I’m gonna have a vegetable garden and maybe even open up my own bakery, and experiment with vegan doughnuts.” After she told him she will have saved enough in another year and be able to follow her dream, Hazel told her to fast-track her timeline, knowing the world was ending in a few days; instead of telling her that he said it was because life was short._

__

“Oh my god, he loves her!” Klaus gasped.

__

_Hazel, kind of awkwardly, grabbed Agnes’s hand and held it as they watched the birds together. Meanwhile, across the street from Griddy’s, Diego and Klaus are sitting in Diego’s car once more, as Klaus laughs on the edge of hysteria. “You got a big mouth, you know that?” Diego said, wanting an explanation for whatever the hell happened in the bar with his brother._

__

_“Oh, wow.” Klaus mocked, “What a truly shocking revelation, Diego.” as he talked a pulled a little plastic bag with pills of some kind out of one of his pockets and started opening it._

__

_“Everything’s a big joke to you, right?” Diego countered, and upon seeing the pills in Klaus’s hand he pulled them away from his brother, he questioned, “Would you stop it? Why are you putting this shit in your body?”_

__

_Diego and Klaus yelled and hit at each other for a bit, normal sibling stuff, before Diego demanded, “Don’t tell me everything is all right, because I saw you in there. You were crying like a baby!”_

__

_“Because I lost someone!” Klaus yelled back; he could feel himself getting choked up as he relieved losing Dave. “I lost someone.” Klaus repeated, “The only, the only person I’ve truly loved more than myself.”_

__

_Klaus pulled a pill from one of his pockets and swallowed it with a “Cheers” as Diego remembered losing Eudora in the past 24 hours. “Well,” Diego said, “you’re luckier than most. When you lose someone, at least you can, see them whenever you want.” The two shared a somber look, both reflecting on their lost loved ones. Then, Diego noticed Hazel and Agnes in the rearview mirror and said, “That’s our man.”_

__

_Klaus looked in the side mirror, recognized Hazel and said, “Hey, I know that guy. He and a really angry lady tortured me. I barely got out with my life.”_

__

_Diego kept an eye on Hazel as he started his car and began his drive back to the motel, “We gotta get this guy.” Now not only for Eudora but for Klaus too. Diego and Klaus followed Hazel back to the motel._

__

_The screen jumped to Five writing something on the walls of his room. He was making a probability map to figure out whose death would be the most likely to stop the apocalypse as Luther came into Five’s room, asking him what he was doing. “I’ve narrowed it down to four.” Five said._

__

_“Are you saying one of these four people causes the apocalypse?” Luther asked, pointing to the four names Five had written on the wall._

__

_“No,” Five hissed, “I’m saying that their death might prevent it.” At Luther’s admission that he wasn’t following Five further, and shortly, explained, “Time is fickle, Luther. The slightest alteration in events can lead to massively different outcomes in the time continuum. The butterfly effect. So all I have to do is find the people with the greatest probability of impacting the timeline, wherever they may be, and kill them.”_

__

_Luther moved to get a closer look at Five’s list, Milton Green, Aleks Cameron, KC Chavez, and Robert Polko. Ironically there was no Leonard Peabody or Harold Jenkins anywhere near his final list. “Milton Green.” He said, “So who’s he, a terrorist or something?”_

__

_“I believe he is a gardener.” Five replied as he wrote something in his copy of Vanya’s book._

__

_“You can’t be serious.” Luther said, wondering how on Earth his brother thought a simple gardener could possibly impact the apocalypse enough to stop it, “Wait, this is madness, Five. You-” He noticed that Five had pulled a gun he’d been storing under his bed, “-wait, where’d you get that?”_

__

_“In Dad’s room.” Five replied, pulling the gun out of the cover it had been stored in, “I think he used it to shoot a rhinoceros. It’s similar to the model I used at work. Nice shoulder fit and highly reliable.”_

__

“You sound like some middle-aged man going to work in some office, not a an old, time traveling assassin.” Klaus teased.

__

_“But you can’t-” Luther gasped, “This guy Milton is just an innocent man.”_ It felt like Klaus had already heard this same conversation earlier in the same episode.

__

_“It’s basic math.” Five countered, “His death could potentially save the lives of billions. If I did nothing, he’d be dead in four days anyway. The apocalypse won’t spare anyone.”_

__

_Luther, still following his ideals of the Academy, not Five’s of the apocalypse or the Commission, said, “We don’t do this kind of thing.”_

__

_“We are not doing anything.” Five sneered, “I am.”_

__

_“I can’t let you go and kill innocent people.” Luther declared, sounding very ‘I am Number One and you have to listen to me’, “No matter how many lives you’ll save.”_

__

“My god! It’s like two brick walls talking to each other!” Klaus whined.

__

Several Hargreeves looked a bit confused at whatever Klaus meant; Diego asked, “What the hell does that mean Klaus?”

__

“They both keep saying the same thing.” Klaus said, “And neither of them are going to change their mind.” Fair enough.

__

_Back on screen Five challenged, “Well, good luck stopping me.”_

__

_As Five started to leave, intent on shooting at least one of the four names from his final list, Luther said, “You’re not going anywhere.” he grabbed Delores by her neck and held her out the window._ Present Five glared at Luther as he watched _his brother hold Delores out the window, threatening to drop her unless he gave up the gun; as if he needed it to kill someone._

__

_Upon seeing Delores hanging out the window, Five pointed the gun at Luther, “Put. Her. Down.” Five ordered._

__

_“Put the gun down.” Luther countered, “You’re not killing anyone today. I know she’s important to you, so don’t make me do this. It’s either her or the gun. You decide.” When Five didn’t pick between Delores or the gun, Luther threw Delores causing Five to drop the gun and jump to catch her. Once Five jumped to catch Delores, Luther moved and grabbed the gun from the floor, “I can keep doing this all day.”_

__

“Okay, Captain America.” Diego mocked. Luther had no idea who this Captain America Diego was referring to was, he’d been on the moon for four years and it wasn’t like he’d been getting a lot of access to any movies or comics or the like while still working with their father.

__

_“I know you’re still a good person, Five.” Luther said, while Five cradled Delores, checking her over for any damage, “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have risked everything coming back here to save us all. But you’re not on your own anymore.”_

__

_Something Luther said must’ve clicked with Five because he admitted, “There is one way. But it’s just about impossible.” Luther agreed to help Five in whatever way he could, if only for his brother to not have to kill innocent people._

__

Five did not appreciate the looks he was getting from Allison, Klaus, and Ben; like they were proud he didn’t go and murder someone who might’ve influenced the apocalypse. Whatever.

__

_The screen switched to Vanya practicing her violin in her apartment before a knock on the door interrupted her. She pulled open the door and saw her sister on the other side, “Oh, hey.”_

__

_“Hey.” Allison said, “Can I come in?” Vanya told her that she really needed to rehearse, but Allison claimed she needed to tell her something she wasn’t going to want to hear. “I was just in the library looking up Leonard. And-”_

__

_“What?” Vanya asked, “Why would you do that?”_

__

_“Vanya, there are records of literally everything.” Allison said, “I mean, you look me up, there are miles-”_

__

_“You’re one of the most famous people in the world.” Vanya countered,_ and god was it weird to watch Vanya continuously cut off someone, let alone one of her siblings.

__

_“Okay. Bad example.” Allison relented, “My point is that there should be some kind of record of him, but all I could find is a photo and his name in the phone book. It’s like he didn’t exist-”_

__

_“You are unbelievable.” Vanya sighed,_ Klaus could tell she was getting more and more upset, another weird thing to see from Vanya, as Allison kept pushing further and further. _“You’re trying to dig up dirt on a guy that I like. Who does that?”_

__

It was weird how much Allison and Vanya had been fighting in the week leading up to the apocalypse, they’d never fought much, if ever, when they were kids. Or maybe it was because Vanya figured they’d all take Allison’s side over hers so she didn’t bother, which would’ve been fair if that were the case; they probably would’ve, or most of them would’ve at least. _“Look, I’ve had my fair share of stalkers and creeps. I don’t trust him.” Allison said._

__

_Vanya accused, “You mean you don’t trust me.”_

__

_“What? No.” Allison defended, “That’s-”_

__

_“This is not about you.” Vanya stated, “And for the first time someone thinks I’m special.”_

__

_“I’m just worried about you.” Allison said._

__

_“Well, you’re not my mother.” Vanya snapped, “Worry about your own daughter.”_

__

Klaus winced at that and sighed, “Low blow Vanya.”

__

_“That’s not fair.” Allison sighed._

__

_“I want you to leave.” Vanya said, being oddly authoritative. And Allison left without another word; obviously annoyed that she wasn’t getting through to her sister once again but knew that if she kept pushing, much like with Five, Vanya would just shut her out. Which was the opposite of what she wanted._

__

_The screen switched to Hazel and Cha-Cha entering their new motel room. And immediately upon seeing the single beds Hazel complained, “Singles instead of doubles. What’s next, futons on the floor?”_

__

_“What difference does it make?” Cha-Cha snapped, “We’re only here another night.”_

__

_“Well, that’s easy for you to say. I’ve been in every pawn shop all over town, lookin’ for our briefcase.” Hazel whined,_ whether he had or hadn’t wasn’t clear since they hadn’t been shown him actually searching for the briefcase, _“You’ve been relaxing in the library.”_

__

_Cha-Cha held up the copy of Vanya’s book from the library, “Well, at least we know something on the family that can help.” Cha-Cha said, “It’s like a Hargreeves family handbook. Let me tell you, they’re a real freaking mess.” As Cha-Cha spoke, the screen showed Diego checking out and then sticking something to the bottom of Hazel’s car._

__

_“Number Five can time travel without a briefcase, but not that well.”_ Five looked a bit proud of himself, little did they know about his time traveling capabilities now. 

__

_“The big oaf lived on the moon for a few years.”_ That got an indignant noise from Luther in return.

__

Klaus yelled “Rude!” as _Cha-Cha said, “The junkie can conjure the dead, which explains why he knew about the dead Russian yesterday.”_

__

_Hazel pulled open the curtain on the window and looked into the parking lot as Cha-Cha said, “And the idiot in the mask can curve anything he throws, usually knives.”_

__

_“Well, he’s the one we need to worry about right now.” Hazel said._

__

_“Why?” Cha-Cha asked, thumbing through the pages of the book._

__

_Hazel replied, “Because he’s in the parking lot, hiding behind an ice-cream truck.”_

__

Klaus called after, “Best. Sentence. Ever.”

__

_Cha-Cha joined Hazel at the window as the screen changed to show Diego and Klaus sitting in Diego’s car behind the aforementioned ice-cream truck. As Cha-Cha pulled the curtains closed on their window, Diego said, “Bingo.”_

__

_Diego started to move to attack Hazel and Cha-Cha in some way, Klaus said, “You do know that killing these people is not gonna make you feel any better.”_

__

“You sound just like Ben.” Five teased, getting glares from Klaus and Ben.

__

_“Yeah,” on screen Diego agreed, “but when it’s done, I’m gonna sleep like a baby.”_

__

_Klaus scoffed, “Sure you will.”_

__

_The screen jumped to Hazel sitting in their motel room as a knock came at their door. Cha-Cha and Hazel pulled their guns out, thinking it was Diego, as Hazel checked through the window he said, “Motel clerk.” Cha-Cha pulled open the door and took the written message the clerk brought them with exchanging any words._

__

_Cha-Cha opened the note and immediately noticed the ‘From the desk of Reginald Hargreeves’ printed on the top, realizing the note was from Five, “It’s from Five.”_

__

_“How’d he find us?” Hazel asked;_ Five smirked at their displeasure and underestimation of his abilities.

__

_“Well, he was us.” Cha-Cha reasoned, “He knows all the protocols.” She then went on to read Five’s note, “He says he has the briefcase. Wants to set up a meeting. Come on, we’re late already.” Cha-Cha said, seeming to forget about the fact that Diego and Klaus were literally waiting for them outside._

__

“Am I the only one who keeps expecting Diego to show up at any second during this?” Allison asked, getting nods from Luther and Ben in return and a laugh from Klaus.

__

_Hazel, on the other hand, hadn’t forgotten about Diego and Klaus waiting outside and asked, “What about our friends outside? Last thing we need’s a tail.” Hazel pulled on the suit jacket he’d taken off as he suggested, “Manila, 1902?”_ Whatever that means.

__

“Five, you know what Manila 1902 is?” Diego asked.

__

“Nope.” Five replied, “That’s their work, and I couldn't have cared less about it.”

__

_Cha-Cha, instead of going with Hazel’s suggestion, decided to just go with their ice bucket method. Which lead to Hazel, obviously, carrying their rooms ice bucket, presumably towards the ice machine. “Stay in the car.” Diego told Klaus, moving to go after Hazel or Cha-Cha, now that they were separated._

__

_“What are you talking about?” Klaus questioned, “This guy tortured me.”_

__

_“I have a plan.” Diego replied, before getting out of the car and stalking up the stairs Hazel had just been seen by._

__

_As he reached the top of the stairs, Klaus could be seen walking behind him before saying, “So, what exactly is the plan here, big guy?”_

__

_“I told you to wait in the car.” Diego reminded him._

__

_“Yeah, but you also told me that licking a nine-volt battery would give me pubes.” Klaus replied._

__

Allison whined, “Ew.” with a shudder. The imagery alone was enough to gross her out. 

__

“I still can’t believe you did that.” Ben laughed as Five and Luther rolled their eyes; Luther being far more subtle than Five.

__

“Well, just so you all know,” Klaus said, “it tasted really weird and not worth it.”

__

_Back in 2019, Diego replied, “We were eight.” Klaus shrugged and moved to pass Diego on the stairs before his brother stopped him and started to pull him back down the stairs and towards his car. “For once, in your life, I need you to listen to me, okay? Now, go back to the car. And if I don’t come out in two minutes, that means I’m probably dead.”_

__

“What the hell Diego?” Allison snapped at her brother.

__

Diego in return simply asked “What?”, being fully aware of what she was upset about.

__

“Why would you say that?” Luther asked, sounding less upset than Allison, but still upset.

__

Five jumped in with, “Well, he’s right anyway. Either Hazel and Cha-Cha would’ve killed him within the first few minutes of him being there, or he would’ve killed them. Either way, it would’ve been fast, just one more efficient than the other.”

__

_On screen Diego continued, “That happens, go get help. Okay?” Once Klaus agreed, Diego worked back up the stairs, leaving Klaus who was supposed to be returning to the car._

__

_As Diego reached the top of the stairs again, he kicked in the door of the motel room Hazel and Cha-Cha had just been in, expecting Cha-Cha to still be in there; only to find an empty room with the tv on some western._

__

_Diego left the room, hearing an engine revving outside; as he went to investigate the source of the noise, Hazel and Cha-Cha pulled around the corner of the building, Cha-Cha hanging out the window, gun aimed at Diego._

__

_She opened fire on Diego, one of which got his arm; and seemingly out of nowhere Klaus pulled Diego back and out of the way of more bullets. “See?” Klaus said, “You used to think I was an idiot.”_

__

_“I still think you’re an idiot.” Diego replied. Hazel and Cha-Cha sped away, having shot out the tires of Diego’s car, presumably leaving them stranded._

__

_The screen switched from Klaus making fun of Diego’s plan failing to Vanya nervously walking into her audition for first chair._

__

_The three people, one of which was the orchestra’s conductor, didn’t seem to be paying Vanya any attention as she walked in. “What is your name again?” The conductor asked, barely looking up from the papers he was holding._

__

_“Vanya.” their sister answered, but far too softly for the man to hear her, so she repeated it louder, “Vanya Hargreeves.”_

__

_The conductor told her to start, and nervously she did. At first none of the people that were conducting the audition were paying Vanya much attention, instead looking at their notes for the other applicants, but as Vanya played, they could see ripples of what must’ve been her powers spread across the room, pulling in the attention of not only the audience on screen,_ but her siblings as well.

__

_While Vanya was auditioning, Allison was shown breaking into Leonard’s house through an unlocked window, closing it behind her. Allison thoroughly searched through his house, not finding any evidence against the man._

__

_Just as she was about to pull open the door to his attic, Allison heard Leonard unlocking the front door of his house. Realizing she had literally no more time to search the man’s house, Allison silently worked her way to his back door and got out without getting caught. Right as Allison snuck out of Leonard’s house, Vanya finished her audition and was looking quite pleased with herself. As did the conductor._

__

_The scene jumped from Vanya to Luther and Five, waiting on an empty, country road for Hazel and Cha-Cha to turn up. A tense silence fell between Luther and Five before Five said, “You know, I never enjoyed it.”_

__

_“What?” Luther asked._

__

_“The killing.” Five said._

__

“Well, isn’t that a relief. I was worried about you for a minute there Five.”

__

“Shut up Klaus.”

__

_On screen Five continued, “I mean, I was, I was good at my work, and I, I took pride in it. But it never gave me pleasure.” Five sighed, before continuing, present Five was once again ignoring any and all concerned looks his siblings were giving him, “I think it was all those years alone. Solitude can do funny things to the mind.”_

__

_“Yeah, well,” Luther said, “you were gone for such a long time. I only spent four years on the moon, but that was more than enough. It’s the being alone that breaks you.” Luther’s attention shifted to the briefcase they’d brought as a decoy, that looked nothing like the original, “You think they’ll buy it?”_

__

_“Well, what I do know is that they’re desperate.” Five said, “It’s like a cop losing his gun. If the Commission finds out, they’ll be in deep shit.”_ Klaus was pleased with himself, now realizing how much trouble he’d caused for Hazel and Cha-Cha by taking their stupid briefcase. _“Oh,” Five continued, “not to mention the fact that they’ll be stuck here until they get it back.”_

__

_Luther and Five decided that Luther would hold the briefcase, in case they made a move on Five._ Klaus found it so weird to watch Five work with and get along with their siblings, he never did that the first time they were kids, unless it was with Vanya and on occasion Ben. 

__

_Finally Hazel and Cha-Cha’s car could be seen approaching them just over the horizon. Luther and Five got out of their car to meet them, Five met Hazel and Cha-Cha midway between the two parked cars, Luther staying back with the briefcase._

__

_Expectedly, Five and Cha-Cha threatened each other while Hazel tried to get the easiest, fastest, and cleanest outcome for them all. Five told them to contact their superior, The Handler, so he could have a chat with her._

__

_Cha-Cha went to call The Handler while Hazel watched her back and Five returned to Luther, as they waited for The Handler to show up. As they waited, an ice-cream truck chime could be heard nearing their meeting._

__

“You didn’t.” Allison gasped, giving Diego a dismayed look.

__

Diego held his hands up in mock surrender, “Wasn’t me.” And with one finger he pointed to Klaus, “It was him.”

__

“What!” Allison gasped; wondering why the hell are her brother so stupid?

__

_The ice cream truck from the motel could be seen approaching them, Klaus in the driver's seat, Diego in the passenger seat, and Ben’s ghost was sitting on the dashboard. Hazel and Cha-Cha realized it was Five’s brothers driving the truck right towards them and thought it was a setup, which it was to be fair, and opened fire on the Hargreeves brothers._

__

_As Hazel and Cha-Cha got hit by the truck and a stray bullet headed towards Luther and Five, time slowed to a stop for everyone except Five as The Handler appeared. “Neat trick, isn’t it?” she asked the same woman who’d offered older Five his original job in the apocalypse. “Hello, Five. You look good, all things considered.”_

__

“She is so much creepier now.” Klaus whined with a shutter, he didn’t like this woman being weirdly flirtatious with his brother when he looks 13.

__

_Five on screen replied, “It’s good to see you again.”_

__

_“It feels like we met just yesterday.” The Handler continued, “Course, you were a little bit older then. Congratulations on the age regression, by the way. Very clever. Threw us all off the scent.” Their bantering with underlying jabs and disgusting flirtation continued until Five struck up a deal with The Handler that if he returned with her, his family would be safe from the apocalypse. Five disappeared with The Handler just before time resumed._

__

“You weren’t actually planning to work for that woman were you?” Allison asked Five with a smirk.

__

“Not at all.” Five replied, a smirk of his own on his face.

__

_When time did resume, Klaus and Diego’s stolen ice cream slammed into Hazel and Cha-Cha’s car, as Hazel and Cha-Cha hit the ground, and Luther tried to avoid any stray bullets. Hazel ran to get his gun, unaware the cartridge had been removed, as Cha-Cha went to get the fake briefcase Luther threw into the field; and while the assassins ere distracted, Luther charged forward and helped Klaus carry Diego to what had been Luther and Five’s car._

__

_Diego and Klaus climbed into the back seat as Luther got back into the driver's seat and Ben was in the passenger seat. Hazel tried to shoot at them, but still had no bullets. And as the brothers drove off, Klaus flipped off Hazel and Cha-Cha one last time. Cha-Cha dumped the scrap metal that Luther and Five had put into the fake briefcase, and realizing they’d been duped yelled, “Shit!” after the fleeing car._

__

_The scene jumped with a knock at Leonard’s front door. As he opened it to reveal a very excited and new first chair Vanya._ Allison was a little hurt that her sister had told Leonard/Harold before telling any of her siblings that she’d gotten first chair; but then again she had just fought with Vanya that day and most of their siblings wouldn’t’ve even known what first chair meant.

__

_Vanya and Leonard kissed,_ which elicited mocking ews from Klaus and Ben, _but little did any of the Hargreeves know that at the same time, the former first chair’s, Helen Cho, body was lying in his attic, wrapped in a plastic bag._

__

“Oh my god.” Allison gagged, realizing how close she’d been to the body earlier that day, as Klaus and Ben gasped in a mix of horror and disgust.

__

_The scene followed a wave of Vanya’s still mysterious powers through the city, blowing open a familiar red book in Leonard’s attic before leaving, and back to the house where Pogo was finishing repairing and reprogramming Grace, asking her, “And do you understand that the children can never know?”_

__

_Which she replied, “I understand.”, although she’d struggled to answer Pogo at first._

__

Diego realized that Pogo hadn’t been talking about what he’d did to their mother, but rather he’d been talking about what their mother told him in the park later.

__

The black screen appeared once again saying, “The End of Episode Five of Ten: Number Five. Up Next Episode Six of Ten: The Day That Wasn’t.”

__

“The day that wasn’t? What does that mean?” Ben asked as Five muttered a shocked, “Shit!”

__

“Dear Five, would you care to share with the ret of the class?” Klaus called, barely being able to hear his brother’s muttering.

__

“I may have done something.” Five admitted, they’d all see what happened in the next episode apparently anyway; so why waste time now explaining it?

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING!
> 
> Please let me know what you think so far.
> 
> If you'd like to help me out, please fill this out -> https://forms.gle/L7eAkrSKBcQqeBHG9 <\- It would be much appreciated but please don't feel obligated to do so. Thank you! And if you already have filled this out, thank you!
> 
> I tried to have Vanya during the lunch part when most of the Hargreeves were talking during mealtime which is like a sin in their house, be like "Who are you people? And what have you done with my siblings?"
> 
> I now have a new theory, Vanya didn't go to Allison's wedding. In this episode Vanya doesn't want advice from Allison, whom she hasn't seen in 12 years; and since they're 29 in the show that puts them at 17 the last time Allison and Vanya had talked/seen each other). AND in the 2nd episode, Vanya mentions never meeting Patrick, which would be weird if she'd been at her sister's wedding and didn't meet her husband. idk, just my thoughts.
> 
> Fun Fact (not really) about me - The scene of Klaus destroying the briefcase makes me cry every time I watch it, so that was fun. And I also cry or almost cry every time I listen to Mary by Big Thief just because it plays over the scene.
> 
> Also, please let me know if I should write more thoughts/dialogues for any of the characters. I hope I'm giving each of them adequate featuring but please let me know if I'm not. I also try to have the amount of thoughts/dialogue each character has fit their personality; like Klaus talks a lot and Five has more internal dialogue because I think that's how their characters would act.
> 
> Also also, if there are any extra scenes you guys think I should add (like Allison and Vanya's sleepover later) as like a separate fic and make it into a series of this fic and the extra scenes please let me know.
> 
> Also, also, also, I have been thinking about starting a fic that's like the tv versions meet the comic versions. Like Five fucked up taking them back and they're stuck in the alternate universe (the comics) until he can fix it. What do you guys think of that?
> 
> Also, also, also, also, (last one I promise) I'm thinking about, once this fic is done, about doing something similar to this with The Haunting of Hill House, would you guys be interested in that?
> 
> Sorry for the long note.


	7. The Day That Wasn't

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Ben watch the sixth episode of The Umbrella Academy, The Day That Wasn't

The tape, thankfully for Five (who was getting several looks of varying degrees of emotions from his siblings), rolled right into the next episode as the text on screen switched to “Episode Six of Ten: The Day That Wasn’t” before fading to black before _opening on soldiers in a tent, most of whom were sleeping;_ and Klaus felt his heart clench.

_Helicopter blades could be heard again as different text that read, “A Shau Valley, Vietnam. 1968.”_ Klaus’s hand found Ben’s again as Allison and Diego sent Klaus concerned looks. _In a flash of blue on the screen, Klaus appeared in the tent clutching the briefcase._

_The soldier closest to the newly arrived Klaus and Klaus himself had been giving each other interesting looks just before explosions began around the surrounding area of the tent. All the previously sleeping soldiers startled awake as their commanding officers called, “Go time, ladies! Charlie’s on the wire!”_

_One of the officers saw Klaus, who was still sprawled out on the floor from being dropped by the briefcase, not moving and yelled, “You got mud in your ears, boy? Get dressed!” Klaus tried to tell the man he wasn’t supposed to be there but the man continued on, “War’s not gonna wait for you to get pretty!” Moving from Klaus to another soldier the officer continued, “Katz, get this man operational. And get him a pair of pants! Let’s go!”_ At the mentioning of Dave’s name, even if it was his last name, Klaus felt tears begin to prick at his eyes and a small whimper escaped him. Ben gave his hand a comforting squeeze.

_A soldier, presumably Katz, handed Klaus a pair of pants as he scrambled off the floor. As Klaus pulled the pants on as fast as he could the officer continued barking out orders, “Do you think I have time to waste? Get him a gun!” And upon seeing Klaus was watching him in confusion as he got dressed the officer yelled, “Don’t look at me, get those pants on!” Some soldier put a helmet on Klaus’s head as he finished pulling up his pants._

Ben hadn’t thought there had been a worse environment any of them had lived in other than living under Reginald’s thumb, twice, and not including the Apocalypse because they were going to stop that, but seeing his brother being barked at by some officer in the middle of the jungle midst of the Vietnam War; may or may not have made Ben feel a bit bad for punching Klaus in the face for turning to drugs again after his return from Nam.

_On screen a terrified looking Klaus sat on a bus with several other soldiers as another soldier worked his way from the back of the bus up to where Klaus was sitting. As he took a seat near Klaus he asked, “You just get in country?”_

Ben whispered to Klaus, “Is that?”

“Yeah.” Klaus sighed, eyes glued to the other man’s face on screen.

_“Oh, uh, yeah.” Klaus on screen agreed with a small nod and a pensive grin._

_The two shared a laugh and the other soldier continued, “Yeah, shit’s crazy. I know.”_

_“Yeah!” Klaus agreed with another nod and a more charismatic smile now._

_“You’ll adjust.” The other soldier said, then he stuck out his hand as best he could saying, “I’m Dave.” Klaus took Dave’s hand and told him his own name. Diego sent Klaus a look, silently asking, “You okay?” and Klaus gave him a kind of sad nod._ Klaus was happy to be able to see Dave again, but he knew what was going to happen to the love of his life and it dampened his happiness a bit. Maybe Five would be able to do something to save Dave.

_The scene shifted to showing a city near Klaus and Dave’s camp in Vietnam. The screen faded into a disco ball at a bar where Klaus and Dave, now dressed in casual clothing rather than their military uniforms, were shown dancing together, both a bit drunk; it went on to show them taking shots with some other soldiers as well as some local women. And one thing leads to another and the two were shown kissing, one of Dave’s hands cupping Klaus’s face._

_And in another jump, the screen switched to Klaus dumping most of his remaining drugs into the toilet as a knock came to his door. “Busy.” Klaus called back with a sniff, having just relieved the best and worst experience of his life._

_Luther pushed open the door and said, “Oh, good. You’re up.” Klaus looked annoyed as Luther continued, “We need to talk. You, me, and the others. So meet me in the living room.” And when Klaus didn’t start moving Luther’s voice became more demanding, “Like, now-ish.”_

_“Yeah, that sounds like a real rager,” Klaus snapped back, sounding annoyed and defeated, “but my schedule’s already chock-full. So-”_

_“Yeah, no time for that.” Luther interrupted, “The world’s ending in three days.”_ Luther felt bad now for not listening to Klaus while he was going through a tough time, but how was he supposed to know? He’d just thought that Klaus’s plans had included taking all kinds of drugs and drinking until he forgot his own name, therefore unimportant in regards to the end of the world.

_Klaus looked confused as Allison’s voice said, “Three days?” before the scene shifted to Luther, Diego, Allison, and Klaus sitting and standing in the living room._

_“That’s what Five said.” Luther replied, taking a coffee Allison was handing him._

_Klaus sat up from the couch he’d been laying on, “The old bastard did mention the apocalypse, come to think of it.”_ Klaus was expecting to get a glare from Five since he’d called him an old bastard, but instead, Klaus could barely hear a laugh coming from Five. But Klaus had a feeling it wasn’t what they were seeing on the screen that Five was laughing at. _On screen, Klaus added, “He just left out the part about how soon.”_

_“But can we trust him?” Allison asked_ getting a scoff from Five at her disbelief in him as _text appeared at the bottom the screen, only reading “Wednesday. 8:15 am.” as Allison continued, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Five’s a little.” before whistling, insinuating she thought he’d gone a bit crazy._

_Klaus laughed and sighed, “Our little psycho.”_

_“He was pretty convincing.” Luther countered, ignoring his siblings comments about their brother’s possible lack of mental stability, “If he wasn’t trying to stop an apocalypse from happening, those two lunatics wouldn’t be chasing him.”_

_Leading Diego to ask, “That’s why they were after him?”_

_“Yeah.” Luther answered._

_“What did Five even see?” Allison asked, causing Luther to pause, and think about his answer before he said._

_“Uh, apparently, we all fought together against whoever was responsible.” Luther took a pause, obviously avoiding saying something he didn’t want to say so he pushed himself off the stool and continued, “Okay. So, here’s the plan. Uh, we go through Dad’s research-”_

_As Allison asked, “Wait, what?”, Diego said, “Hold on, hold on.”, and Klaus repeated “Wait a tick, wait a tick, wait a tick.” on top of each other._

_Once Luther stopped talking, having to face the music of what his siblings wanted to know as Klaus asked, “What actually happened the first time around?”_

_“Yeah.” Diego jumped in, “What are you not telling us? Come on, big boy, spit it out.”_

_Luther’s eyes shifted between the three siblings in the room and quietly said, “We died.”_

_“What was that?” Allison asked, wanting clarification for whatever Luther had just said._

_Luther finished his sip of coffee and repeated, “I said, uh, we died.” And Diego, Allison, and Klas shared looks of shock, confusion, and betrayal._

“Why is the episode called The Day That Wasn’t if everything that’s happened, happened?” Klaus asked.

Five looked embarrassed, for Five at least, and admitted, “It’s because I hadn’t changed anything yet.”

“And what does that mean?” Ben questioned, because Five clearly knew what was going to happen.

Five just replied with, “You’ll see.”

_The screen jumped from the four Hargreeves in the living room to Hazel and Cha-Cha entering another new motel room._

_As they opened the door some plastering from the ceiling fell onto the floor as Hazel noticed the sole double bed in the room. Knowing what Hazel was going to complain about, Cha-Cha said, “Don’t say it.”_

_“Say what?” Hazel sarcastically replied, “Pinch me, I must be dreaming.”_

_“Quit your bellyaching, Hazel. It’s only one more day.” Cha-Cha said, hoping he’d stop complaining; while Five and Klaus laughed at the duo’s misfortune after everything they’d done to themselves and their family._

_“See, that’s a relief.” Hazel sighed, tossing his jacket onto the very dusty table in the room, “I was worried it was too good to be true.”_

“Don’t they still have to get a briefcase or something to leave?” Allison asked.

Five grinned, a bit like a manic, and confirmed Allison’s question with a “Yep.”

_One of the tube’s whooshing noises could be heard in the room just as Hazel finished his sentence. Cha-Cha handed the message to Hazel saying, “Well, it gets worse.”_

_Hazel scoffed before reading the message aloud, “Contract to kill Number Five terminated. Await further instruction.”_ Five didn’t bother hiding the smirk that overtook his face at this point. _Hazel crumpled up the message and said, “Obviously, Number Five cleared things up with the Commission.”_

_“You think they let that little shit off so easy?” Cha-Cha bit, “It doesn’t make any sense.”_

“Hey!” Klaus yelled at the screen, “We’re the only ones allowed to call him a little shit, asshole!”

_Hazel, on the other hand, had a differing opinion than Cha-Cha; “Sure it does. He’s a legend.”_

_“And what are we?” Cha-Cha hissed back, “Chopped liver?”_ And Five muttered back a “Yes.”

_Hazel and Cha-Cha argued for a bit, again, until Hazel claimed he was going to the vending machine, needing a hit of sucrose._ “He’s definitely going to see that Griddy’s lady. Agnes!” Klaus predicted, struggling for a moment to remember the lady’s name.

_Just after Hazel left another tube arrived._ Five had a pretty good feeling about what the next message for Cha-Cha would say; as well as the one Hazel would get a few seconds later. 

_Cha-Cha pulled out the new message and the message said, “Terminate Hazel for immediate extraction.” while Cha-Cha only read aloud, “Terminate Hazel.” Surprisingly, for someone who seemed to put their job above everyone and everything else, Cha-Cha seemed to be conflicted with the job of killing her partner._

_Meanwhile back at Commission Headquarters, Five and The Handler are shown walking into a building, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Some text appeared in the bottom corner of the screen read, “1955”_

_“I must admit, Number Five,” The Handler said, “in all the time that I’ve been here, I’ve never met anyone quite like you.” As the two walked into the building, any people they passed greeted The Handler while also staying out of her and Five’s way. “Hazel and Cha-Cha, for example, are talented, certainly, but, they can’t see the big picture. Your spunk, your enterprising spirit, well, it reminds me a great deal of myself, if, I may be vainglorious.”_

“What does that mean?” Klaus whispered to Ben.

And Ben whispered back, “It's like extremely prideful.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“No problem.”

_When Five said nothing in response The Handler continued, “If things work out for you here, you could potentially make a fine successor, Five.”_

_As they entered the building, The Handler took her coat and sunglasses off, handing them to someone standing nearby as Five said, “I’d like to discuss the logistics of my family’s safety at your earliest convenience.”_

“Awww, Five loves us!” Klaus gushed, getting another glare from Five which he chose to ignore.

_Five on screen continued, “As well as this body replacement.” as the two began their ascent up a flight of stairs._

_“Such chutzpah.” The Handler replied._

“What does chutzpah mean?” Klaus asked Ben.

Ben replied, “It’s like being shameless when asking or demanding something.”

_“It’s refreshing, I’ll admit.” The Handler continued, “Slow down, Five. All in good time.” The two reached the top of the stairs they’d been walking up, “In fact, now that you’ve finally agreed to work with us, we’ve got all the time in the world.”_

_As the two walked to whatever destination The Handler had in mind for their brother, the Hargreeves were shown several places within the Commission’s headquarters. The Handler continued, “The Commission works in support of a delicate balance between the timeline of events and mankind’s free will.” Five looked at the briefcase room, eliciting The Handler to say, “The briefcase is no longer part of your kit, Five. Free your mind. You’re management now. One of us.”_

_The screen moved closer into the briefcase room as The Handler guided Five to another room, showing a wall lined with briefcases like the one Hazel and Cha-Cha had that Klaus stole and destroyed as well as the masks the foot soldiers the Commission has sent after them in the bowling alley and at the Icarus lined another wall._

_Jumping back to Five and The Handler walking through another hallway of the Commission as The Handler said, “All the people on this floor are case managers, each one responsible for one major event at a time.” They stopped at the doorframe of a room that seemed to stretch on forever, with rows and rows of people sitting behind desks, clicking away at the typewriters in front of them._ Were there really that many important events in the history of the world? That they needed that many people?

_Even on screen Five said, “So many of them.”_

_“Impressive, isn’t it?” The Handler replied, “Being part of something, so grand.” The two stood for a moment, just watching the mass of people work without noticing either of their viewers before The Handler set off to another location, beckoning Five to follow her._

_The Handler began explaining to Five how the Commission worked, as if he didn’t already know “Whenever someone chooses the wrong path and the timeline is changed, the Commission gets a report from field agents on the ground. These field reports are sorted and assigned to a case manager. They determine if anyone needs to be, removed from the equation to assure that their event happens as it should.”_

_As The Handler talked, the two arrived at and entered yet another room called the Tube Room and in the Tube Room there was a woman sorting some of the tubes that Hazel and Cha-Cha had been shown with before. “Based on that determination, the case manager sends instructions via pneumatic tube to, temporal assassins like you formerly were, Number Five. Any queries so far?”_

“Ugh, does she have to be so creepy?” Klaus huffed, once again looking uncomfortable for his brother.

_While on screen Five replied, “Yeah. Who was the case manager handling me?”_

_The Handler ran a hand over Five’s cheek as she said, “You mean the apocalypse.” The Handler introduced Five to the woman who was in charge of ensuring the Apocalypse, Dot. Who, coincidentally, also sat behind Five’s new desk. The Handler gave Five his first assignment of ensuring the Hindenburg Disaster before leaving him to his work._

_The screen jumped from The Commission back to the Academy, but rather than rejoining Luther, Diego, Allison, and Klaus in the living room, the scene showed Vanya and Leonard entering the house through the kitchen._

_While Leonard had an oddly excited look on his face, Vanya seemed to regret her decision to come back to the Academy. “Why am I doing this again?” Vanya asked Leonard,_ while Allison wanted to know what Vanya seemed so apprehensive to tell them.

_“Because it’s important.” Leonard replied._

_Vanya sighed and said, “I just feel like every time I see them, I come away feeling like there’s less of me.”_ That hurt, like a bitch. But Allison knew that you can’t control how someone else feels about your actions, even your sister; and she never wanted her sister feel like that ever again.

_“Things are different now.” Leonard said, taking hold of Vanya’s wrist, “You have me. The Sonny to your Cher, the, um, peanut butter to you jelly.” As Leonard continued, Vanya smiled more and more, even laughing as Leonard said, “Vanya, you getting first chair is a huge accomplishment. You did it all by yourself. So it’s the right thing to invite them to the concert.”_

Oh, that’s what it was. Vanya came to invite them to her concert, her first concert as first chair. And when she came to the house, to invite them all, she saw them not including her, again. So she left, upset, again. At them. At herself. And Allison felt like the worst sister on the planet.

_“They need to see how talented you are, okay?” Leonard finished, giving Vanya the confidence she needed to talk to her siblings. As they walked through the house, trying to find any of the Hargreeves siblings, Leonard noticed the disarray the house had been in since the attack by Hazel and Cha-Cha that seemed forever ago at this point and asked, “Maid’s day off?”_

_Not caring much about the mess Vanya replied, “Growing up, we called her ‘Mom’.” As they continued to walk through the house, not seeing any of the siblings Vanya asked herself more than Leonard, “But where is everybody?”_

_Vanya and Leonard walked past the old portraits of the Umbrella Academy and Leonard asked, “How come you’re not in any of these?”_ This guy was getting on Five’s nerves, and he wished he’d been the one to kill him in the old timeline.

_“It’s always about the Umbrella Academy.” Vanya replied, “I just didn’t make the cut, so.”_ Klaus could hear the anger and annoyance building behind his sister’s voice; Leonard knew how to push his sister’s buttons in the right way so she’d get mad at them, never him. 

_Now Vanya could hear the chattering of her siblings and followed the noise as Leonard observed every piece of Umbrella Academy memorabilia that was constantly on display._

Allison never had to think about it before, but for Vanya, the constant reminders of not fitting in or not belonging with the rest of her siblings, even though the silent ones like the portraits, the tattoos, the displays, it must’ve sucked ass. And then to be told by the siblings, that are supposed to love and accept you no matter what, that you don’t fit in or belong or that you’re just ordinary. Allison thought that Vanya had every right to be mad at them, hate them, never want to talk to them again; but instead their sister loved them relentlessly, told them so in fact, and yet none of them likely said it back to her, not without having some selfish reason for it. They were the absolute worst.

_As Vanya and Leonard walked into the living room, Luther, Diego, Allison, and Klaus were crowded around the bar, talking over each other and none of them noticed Vanya and Leonard had entered until Vanya said, “Hey.”_

“Okay, yeah, that looks really bad.” Klaus muttered, and even though none of them meant to, he felt like an asshole for not thinking to include his sister.

_All four of the siblings stopped talking as Vanya asked, “What’s going on?”_

_Allison replied, “It’s a family matter.” intending for her reply to be directed at Leonard, but Vanya took it as directed at her._

_“A family matter.” Vanya repeated, a surprising amount of venom in her voice, “So you couldn’t be bothered to include me.”_

_“No, it’s not like that.” Luther said, “We were-”_

_“Don’t let me interrupt.” Vanya interrupted and moved to leave with Leonard as Allison tried to get her to stay so she could explain._

_“Vanya wait.” Allison called, “I’ll fill you in later when we’re alone.”_

_Vanya replied, annoyed, “Please, please, don’t bother. And I won’t either.”_

_“Vanya, that’s not fair.” Allison replied._

_“Fair?” Vanya questioned, “There’s nothing fair about being your sister. I have been left out of everything for as long as I can remember. And I used to think it was Dad’s fault, but he’s dead. So it turns out you’re the assholes.” And with that Vanya stormed out and Leonard gave the four remaining siblings an odd look before following her out._

Five hadn’t been there either of the times Vanya had yelled at their siblings, and he was oddly proud of her for standing up for herself, albeit for the wrong reasons and whilst under the manipulation of a psychopath, but he was proud of her nonetheless.

_When Leonard caught up to Vanya just outside the living room, he said that he forgot his jacket and went back to grab it, telling her he’ll catch up with her outside. And when he grabbed his jacket, he also grabbed the figurine of Reginald Hargreeves from one of the display cases._

_And while Leonard was stealing their father’s figurine, Allison said, “I’m gonna go find Vanya explain.” as she walked towards the door._

“Wasn’t it about here that Five landed on the bar?” Ben asked, getting a nod from Diego, a laugh from Klaus, and a glare from Five.

_“No, wait, there isn’t time.” Luther called, stopping Allison from her pursuit of their sister, “We need to figure out what causes the apocalypse.” As Allison turned back to her brothers, still sitting at the bar as Luther continued, “Now, there are loads of possibilities. Nuclear war, asteroids. But I’m thinking this is about the Moon. Right?”_

“My god!” Klaus whined, “Why does it always go back to the moon?” Luther looked a bit ashamed and angry, remembering the real reason their father had sent him to the moon and how much he believed there had been a reason for it.

_On screen Luther continued, “Dad must have sent me up there for a reason. And I was giving him daily updates on the conditions, I sent him field samples. So the first thing we need to do is find his research.”_

_“Hold on. Hold the phone.” Klaus cut in, “We all died fighting this thing the first time around. Remember?”_

_“Klaus, shockingly, has a point.” Diego agreed jumping in, “What gives us a win this time?”_

_“Five.” Luther replied, “Last time we didn’t have him. We weren’t all together.” As Luther spoke Klaus’s withdrawal hit him like a mack truck as he teetered on the edge of vomiting right then and there. “This time we’ll have the full force of the Umbrella Academy. That’s what we need.”_

_And Allison questioned, “So, where’s Five now?”_

_Luther answered with, “Well, he had a plan to change the timeline. He’ll be back soon.”_

_“Well I’m going after Hazel and Cha-Cha.” Diego countered, once again heading for the door of the Academy._

_“What, right now?” Luther questioned._

_“Hell, yeah.” Diego replied, “Three days. I’m losing light by the minute.” Luther and Diego argued for a bit, again, while Ben tried to make sure Klaus was feeling okay while going through withdrawal. And with Diego and Klaus seeming to give up on the world, Allison decided that she needed to be with her daughter in their final days._

_While Luther seemed to have lost all hope in his siblings being able and willing to work together to stop the apocalypse, Vanya was accidentally causing a small storm outside._

_“I can’t believe I was stupid enough to go back there.” Vanya said as soon as Leonard had returned to her outside the Academy._

_Leonard replied, “I shouldn’t have made you do it.”_

_“No, it’s my fault.” Vanya insisted, as their sister spoke there was the sound of metal creaking around them, “I just wanted them to maybe be proud of me for once. And how could I even presume to be worthy of their attention?” As the two walked further down the street Vanya’s voice had been getting louder and angrier and the street lights were bent at varying degrees, “Nothing’s ever big enough next to their holier-than-thou, weight of the world bullshit.”_

_Leonard, seeming to realize the damage Vanya was unintentionally doing to the surrounding area, yelled, “Vanya!”_

_“What?” Their sister yelled back. Leonard pointed back to the bent street lights and the cars that alarms were now blaring._

“Holy shit!” Klaus muttered and shared a look with Ben, while Five and Luther wondered what the full extent of their sister’s powers truly were.

_Not believing it could’ve been her doing, Vanya asked Leonard, “What the hell is happening?”_

_And Leonard replied, “You happened.”_

_Vanya didn’t seem to believe Leonard, “Oh, come on. Th-that’s crazy. I mean, it, it was like this before.”_ Ben was surprised at how much Vanya would deny the possibility of having powers, but then again after being told for basically her entire life that she didn’t have powers, the denial made a lot of sense.

_As Vanya calmed down the rain pouring above them stopped, and still in disbelief of the possibility of having powers, she claimed, “That’s a coincidence.” And when Leonard gave her a disbelieving look she continued, “Leonard, it’s impossible.”_

_Not wanting to argue with Vanya in the street and so close to the Academy, Leonard said “Come on. My place is close.” And Leonard lead Vanya back to his place as the scene shifted to Diego in his room, getting ready to enact his revenge on Hazel and Cha-Cha in honor of Eudora when Klaus approached him._

_Diego asked Klaus to help him tie his shoe, since one of his arms was in a sling from being shot by Cha-Cha; and in return Klaus asked Diego to tie him up in order to get sober; enough to see Dave._

_Meanwhile Five was shown typing away on his typewriter at his desk as the woman behind him, Dot, tried to talk to him; which he was quite unreceptive to._ Klaus was going to make fun of Five for not at least entertaining Dot’s friendliness, but since he knew how much trouble the woman had indirectly caused him, and their family, because of the apocalypse, Klaus decided now wasn’t the time. 

_Five continued to ignore the women's attempts, instead, he set off with one of the tubes and returned to the Tube Room. Just as Five was about to send the tube The Handler appeared seemingly out of nowhere and stopped him, saying it wasn’t part of the procedure. The Handler introduced Five to Gloria, the woman who ran the Tube Room, and The Handler called her “the single most vital cog” in their machine._ Which Diego figured meant that Five would, at least at some point, kill the old woman.

_The Handler read Five’s message, “Karl Weber. Now tell me, why unfortunate Karl?” Five explained that Karl was the butcher at the shop that the pilot of the Hindenburg. And that with Karl’s death the shop would be passed to his son Otto, who disgustingly never washes his hands,_ eliciting gags from most of the Hargreeves siblings. _Five continued to say that Otto giving the pilot his weekly roast would lead to him getting food poisoning, making him late for work, delaying takeoff, and to make up for the lost time he’d fly through poor weather conditions leading to the Hindenburg Disaster._

_After The Handler and Gloria celebrated Five’s quick work of ensuring the Hindenburg Disaster, The Hander lead Five back to the room of desks he’d been in mere minutes before. “I’m sure you’ve all heard that Mr. Five has proven to be as adept with a pen as he was with a sword.” Five set off to return to his desk as The Handler continued, “Let his effort serve as an inspiration to you all.” A man in the desk next to Five was giving him a look as he returned to his desk, and The Handler called to him, “Herb! How long have you been working on the Lusitania?”_

_The man, Herb, started to stutter back a reply and when The Handler asked for clarification as to what he’d been trying to say he tried to explain but was cut off by the sound of a buzzer and everyone but Five filed out of the room. Once he was left alone in he room, Five snuck back to Dot’s desk and stole the case file on the apocalypse, stuffed it under his shirt and snuck off into a bathroom stall._

_Just as he pulled the file out of his shirt and began reading it, the clicking of heels could be heard._ “Why is this lady, like obsessed with Five?” Klaus asked Ben, which Ben just shrugged back to.

_The Handler walked into the stall next to Five, asking as she walked, “So, how’s your first day going?”_

_“Couldn’t be better.” Five called back, although his voice and face showed how annoyed he was._

_“Glad to hear it.” The Handler replied, dropping her skirt on the floor and they could hear what they could only hope was The Handler peeing as well as coughing;_ although several of the siblings wished they’d just skip this scene. _Five on screen looked a mix of confused and disgusted at The Handler’s actions._

_Seeming to sense Five’s confusion The Handler elaborated, “I burned my rugae.”_

“What’s a rugae?” Klaus asked Ben, and Ben said, “I have no idea.” back.

_Back on screen Five started shoving the file back under his shirt while The Handler asked, “Ever burn your rugae?” And when Five gave no answer she continued, “Rugae. The ridges on the hard palate that help pass food to the esophagus. Anyway, I’m on a liquid diet for two days, hence the marathon of urination. One faulty cog, and nothing works as it should.” The screen kept bouncing between Five and The Handler, “You know, we value integrity at the office above all else. Trust is essential, and that trust is, built over time. But in the event of a breach, the Commission will act swiftly and without mercy. An efficiency I’m sure you above all people can appreciate, Number Five.”_

_The Handler flushed the toilet in her stall and walked out to wash her hands and said, “I’m feeling peckish.”_

“I thought she was on a liquid diet?” Klaus wondered aloud.

_“Have you had your lunch?” The Handler asked._

_“Not yet.” Five replied. The Handler invited Five to have lunch with her in her office and he accepted, not that he’d really be able to decline her invitation._

_The screen, rather than continue following Five and The Handler, jumped to Hazel and Cha-Cha driving into the middle of some woods._

_Cha-Cha pulled the car off the dirt road and parked it between some trees, as she did Hazel rolled down his window and asked, “The briefcase is here?” but he sounded, different, like something was wrong._

_“It’s where Commission said.” Cha-Cha replied, sounding on edge, rather than the annoyed she normally sounded._

_Hazel sighed, “All righty.” and got out of the car while Cha-Cha stayed in the car._

“I get why Cha-Cha is being weird,” Luther started, “because she has that order to kill Hazel; but what’s up with Hazel?”

Five, unhelpfully, replied, “You’ll see.” Diego sent Five a measuring look but didn’t say a word, returning his gaze to the screen

_As soon as Hazel got out of the car, searching for the supposed briefcase, Cha-Cha pulled out her gun, loading it, before joining Hazel. And as they were searching for the briefcase, a clicking could be heard as Hazel bent down, claiming to tie his shoe. Once he’d finished he turned to face Cha-Cha and asked, “Can I ask you a cuckoo bananas question?”_

_“Sure,” Cha-Cha replied, “shoot.”_

_“Would it really be so bad, if we didn’t find the briefcase?” Hazel asked._

_And Cha-Cha immediately replied, “Uh, yeah. You know what happens to people who step out of line. We’d be hunted down like dogs. What’s the matter with you?”_

“He’s in love!” Klaus called back. 

_Meanwhile on screen, Hazel replied, “I guess I’m tired of all this being told what to do, where to go. Wouldn’t it be nice to kill who you want for a change, not who the Commission tells us to?” The screen showed a surprised Cha-Cha as Hazel continued, “Let’s forget the stupid briefcase. Why not just stay here?”_

_“In case it fell out of your head,” Cha-Cha countered, “there won’t be a ‘here’ in a few days.”_

_“Well, then, maybe we should help stop it.” Hazel suggested._

_And Cha-Cha asked, “Stop what?”_

_“You know.” Hazel replied, mimicking an explosion with his hands._

_“That’s impossible.” Cha-Cha replied._

_“Why?” Hazel questioned, “Number Five came back.”_

_Cha-Cha countered, “And he failed.”_ getting an offended noise from Five, _“He’s back at the Commission, -”_

Five mocked Cha-Cha with a short laugh and a, “Not for long.”

_“-There’s no way around this, Hazel.” Cha-Cha continued, and as Hazel turned his back on her she swiftly pulled her gun up and aimed it at the back of Hazel’s head, “Our only choice is to do what they say. One way or another, they always get you.” As Cha-Cha spoke, it sounded as if she was teetering on the edge of crying._

_The screen went black as a blast could be heard. And when the screen illuminated again, showing Hazel and Cha-Cha returning to their motel._ Allison muttered a quiet “What the hell?” as the scene continued. _Hazel offered to get them chinese food as Cha-Cha returned to their room._

_Back at the Academy, Luther is shown searching for something as Pogo entered the room, asking, “Everything all right, Master Luther?”_

_Luther turned around from where he’d been searching at Pogo’s voice and asked, “Where are they?”_

“That’s specific.” Diego mocked.

_And at Pogo’s lack of an answer, Luther continued, “The boxes, the reports, the samples? All the correspondence I sent down from the Moon?”_

_“I, uh, I’m not sure.” Pogo claimed, “Your father was a very private person-”_

“‘A very private person’,” Allison scoffed, “that paraded six children in front of cameras for like 10 years.”

_“Stop it, Pogo!” Luther yelled, cutting off another one of Pogo’s long-winded speeches defending their father’s actions, “You know everything our dad did.” Pogo looked a bit ashamed as he lifted his cane and pointed to the rug, specifically the floorboards, by Luther’s feet._

As Luther realized what was about to happen on screen, he wished he was literally anywhere else.

_Luther kicked away the papers and the rug over the trap door that held all of his moon research, all unopened. Pogo told Luther that their father had wanted to give him a sense of purpose while Luther figured that their father had sent him to the moon for 4 years because he couldn’t cut it; Luther sent Pogo away as he started to breakdown. Allison tried to comfort Luther silently, grabbing and squeezing his hand, and this time, he let her._

As much shit Diego had given Luther for all the moon crap and his brother’s constant defending of their father, he couldn’t help but feel pity for his brother and even more anger towards their father.

_Meanwhile in Allison’s room, Allison is packing her belongings for her return to L.A. and her daughter. As she packs away the things on her vanity, she stopped as she grabbed a necklace she and Luther were quite familiar with, a simple gold locket with ‘A+L’ etched into it._

_They were treated to another flashback,_ one that caused both Luther and Allison to blush and look embarrassed that their siblings were seeing it. _The younger versions of Allison and Luther, not the current ones the old ones, were shown sneaking out of their rooms in the middle of the night, sneaking up to the greenhouse where a blanket fort, set up by Allison, was waiting for them, along with a ‘feast’ of sodas and some candy._

_As Allison pulled out various snacks from her stash, Luther reached into his pocket, pulling out the locket Allison had been looking at before. After quickly putting on the necklace, telling Luther she’d never take it off, Allison turned on the record player she had brought up and asked Luther to dance with her._

_Their dance got stopped by their father, finding his two best behaved children out of bed and were having fun outside of the designated time on Saturdays, sent the two to bed as well as forbidding the two from entering the greenhouse again._

_The flashback ended in, ironically, a flash and the screen showed a one-armed Diego tying Klaus up to a chair in the attic. As Diego wrapped the rope tighter around Klaus he said, “If I see a boner, I’m out.”_

“And how’d you know about that Diego?” Five asked his brother, a condescending look plastered on his face.

“Shu-shut up, F-Five.” Diego said, glaring at the floor.

_Back on screen Diego continued, Ben visibly sitting in the background, “End of the world and you wanna get sober all of a sudden. Don’t get me wrong, man. Good by you.” as he spoke Diego continued to circle Klaus as he tied him up, “But I’d think you’d wanna pop every pill on the planet.”_

Present Klaus waved off his on screen brother’s suggestion, “Been there, tried that. Decided to go with something new.” _while on screen Klaus replied, “Oh, the thought did cross my mind, believe me, but, there’s something I need to do, and the whole pesky thing doesn’t seem to work unless I’m sober.”_

_Diego bent down to knot the ends of the rope together, and as he did he asked, “Is this about conjuring the one you lost?” Klaus sighed and Diego asked, “What was her name?”_

“What have I ever done that makes you think I am a heterosexual?” Klaus asked, not just Diego, but all of his siblings who just watched him amusingly for a bit before refocusing on the screen.

_Flashes of Klaus with Dave in Vietnam covered the screen as Klaus sighed back, “His name was Dave. We soldered together in the A Shau Valley, in the Mountain of the Crouching Beast.”_

_“Well,” Diego started, “Dave must have been a very special person, to put up with your weird-ass shit.”_

_Klaus laughed, telling his brother that Dave had been a very special person and that, “He was kind, and strong, and vulnerable, and beautiful.” Klaus sighed as he continued, “Beautiful. And I was foolish enough to follow him all the way to the front line.”_

_“You fought in that shit?” Diego asked._

_“Oh yeah, baby.” Klaus replied. And when Diego asked him how they let him do that Klaus said, “Let me? War couldn’t take enough bodies. Including his.”_ Allison tried to give Klaus a comforting look, but instead, her brother had a distant look in his eyes as he remembered Dave, the self-proclaimed love of his life.

_Klaus, being a pro at changing the subject of conversation when it was getting too real, started talking about how it was great that they were logging in some quality bro time before the end of the world. And just before Diego left Klaus all tied up, going to avenge Eudora, Klaus realized he needed to pee._

_The screen jumped to the tv in Leonard’s house, tuned in to the news rehashing the damages Vanya had caused earlier that day. Leonard tried to convince Vanya that she had powers, and with 25 years of being told she didn’t Vanya denied, “That wasn’t me. I’m so sorry to disappoint you.”_

_“Disappoint?” Leonard repeated, “You couldn’t disappoint me if you tried.” Leonard’s tone shifted from comforting to excited as he continued, “But if you did do this, if it was you, that’s beautiful, it’s powerful.”_

_Vanya interrupted Leonard’s comforting and motivational speech about discovering her powers with, “Look, if this was even true, everything I know about myself would be different. Everything I’ve ever been told.”_ Allison could understand her sister’s thinking, reflecting on her own former career, husband, and child gotten all through rumors; but that was only the last 5 years or so of her life; while Vanya had been forcibly living a lie for practically her entire life.

_“Do you think maybe your father knew?” Leonard suggested._

_And Vanya quickly denied, “Come on. No way! Look, if I was special, I would have been in the Umbrella Academy. I’m so sorry you got stuck with the ordinary one.”_

_A weird look crossed Leonard’s face, almost like his plan wasn’t working as he’d expected, and said, “Ordinary is not a word I’d use to describe you. Look, we’ll figure it out, as a team.”_

“Worst. Teammate. Ever.” Klaus yelled at the screen, happy to distract himself from the loss of the love of his life.

_“My life is so weird.” Vanya said and Leonard added, “I like weird.”_

_The screen jumped from Vanya and Leonard as they started kissing again, ew, to Five with The Handler in The Handler’s office._

_The Handler and Five discussed the work being done to create Five’s replacement body, as well as some of the memorabilia The Handler had collected during her travels. Five tried to suggest some ideas he had about improving the efficiency of the Commission when Dot interrupted, asking to speak to The Handler alone._

_Five left the two as Dot showed The Handler a change in the Apocalypse plans before the scene switched to Luther, sitting in the middle of the room he’d been in earlier, surrounded by the unopened moon evidence._

_Allison walked into the room, seeing Luther sadly sitting in the middle of the room. “Hey.” She said, trying to get their brother’s attention, “So, I couldn’t get a flight out until tonight, and I don’t know what to do. I can’t just sit here. So I’m gonna head to the airport and wait.” Luther still hadn’t looked or acknowledged Allison’s presence as she continued, “I just, I wanted to say goodbye.”_

_When Luther didn’t reply, Allison became concerned and tried to talk to him. He, in turn, told her about how he found all the information he’d sent their father unopened. And when Luther went on to say that he wasn’t a leader and that he wasn’t the right person to lead the stopping of the apocalypse, Allison decided to bring him back to the forbidden greenhouse._

Klaus was surprised at how broken Luther sounded; it wasn’t as bad as when he’d gotten drunk before he went to the rave, but that’s another topic for another day. At the same time, Klaus was glad that Luther had Allison, as well as the rest of them, to help pick him back up like how he had Ben and Diego, and Five and Vanya had each other.

_When Allison lead Luther back to the greenhouse, Luther and Allison were surprised that their fort was still up. “I can’t believe he didn’t take it down after he caught us up here.” Allison said as she sat in the fort._

_“Why are we here?” Luther asked as Allison giggled like a little girl._

_Allison, very seriously, said, “To finish the feast.” before giggling again. Luther joined Allison in their fort, but not without difficulty. Allison then unveiled, hidden away in a plastic planter, two sodas saved from the ‘feast’ their father had interrupted about 16 years earlier; which surprised Luther._

“Wouldn’t those taste like, super bad?” Ben asked, getting looks from Luther and Allison and a laugh from Klaus.

_They both blew dust that had gathered on the tops of the cans off and cracked open the sodas, took a sip from their respective cans, then promptly spit the old sodas out; and as they spit out the sodas, the fort fell apart around them._

“R.I.P. greenhouse fort.” Klaus said in mock sadness, “I didn’t even know you had existed.”

_Luther and Allison pulled themselves out of the mess of the former fort as Luther realized Allison had put the locket back on. Allison asked Luther if he wanted to get out of the house, out into the real world, since now that they, specifically Luther, could go literally anywhere they wanted in the world since dad was dead._

_The screen jumped from the now destroyed and abandoned fort to a forlorn looking Cha-Cha sitting on the motel bed, looking at the order to kill Hazel again. She burned the order in the trash can as she remembered what Hazel had said to her in the woods mere moments ago._

_The scene jumped once more, this time following Cha-Cha to Griddy’s where she seemed to be picking up some doughnuts. As she went outside to wait for the doughnuts, Cha-Cha saw Hazel and Agnes together, hugging and kissing. Hazel, oblivious of Cha-Cha’s presence drove off as Agnes returned to her work._

Knowing how unforgiving Cha-Cha could be, Klaus worried a bit for Agnes’s life.

_Back with Klaus and Diego in the attic, Diego was tying Klaus back up again. This time though, Klaus wasn’t so sure with his plan, wanting to get one last hit in while Diego was determined to help his brother get sober. Klaus fought Diego as best he could, trying to get freed of the rope as Diego ignored his pleas to get once last high before going for the whole sober thing._

Then Klaus hit a real low. Even for him. He tried to bribe Diego for his freedom by conjuring Eudora. “I’m sorry Diego. I-I, I should never have said that.” Klaus apologized, “I’m so-”

“Klaus.” Diego said, stopping Klaus from spewing any more apologies for something that hadn’t even happened, “It’s o-okay. I know you di-didn’t m-mean to.” Diego gave Klaus a half smile, and Klaus sent him a watery one in return.

_Back in 2019, Diego stormed out of the attic, leaving Klaus with a multipurpose bucket; for piss, puke, whatever. Klaus yelled after Diego as he left, calling him a prick, and once Diego was out of sight, Klaus fought as hard as he could on the restraints until he knocked himself over and into a flashback of his time in Vietnam._

_Klaus, along with other soldiers, one of which was Dave, hid behind a small barricade as bullets rained down on them. Klaus was yelling over the gunfire, “Lock and load, Charlie’s away!” Other soldiers yelled barely decipherable orders as the bullets continued to shower them. Klaus talked about how close some of the shots had been; and when Dave didn’t respond Klaus felt his heart in his throat and his stomach drop as he watched his future/past self try to shake Dave, only to learn he’d been shot and died on the battlefield right next to him._

_Klaus begged and begged for Dave to stay with him, desperately calling for a medic who came too late._ Allison could barely fight back the tears threatening to fall, and no one said a word at the tears falling down Klaus’s cheeks along with the soft whimpers.

_Back with Diego as he moved to leave the Academy once more, he spotted mom, up and functioning. “Mom?” Diego called from the doorway of the living room, pulling their mother’s attention away from her dusting._

_“Oh! Hello, Diego, dear.” Their mother greeted walking towards Diego._

_“How are you,” Diego started, “walking around?” looking at the arm he had cut open and used to shut off their mother._

_“One foot in front of the other.” Their mother replied with a laugh, pulling a few smiles from her children watching, “Why? How do you do it?”_

_Diego asked their mother what the last thing she’d remembered had been, which had been over a week in the past. And when Diego persisted, Pogo appeared out of some hidden passage and sent Grace some secretive message which kept her from honestly answering Diego’s question._

_Satisfied that their secret, whatever it was, was safe, Pogo left. Upon seeing that Pogo had left, Grace suggested a trip to the park, to enjoy the weather. And when Diego reminded her that their father never let her off the grounds their mother simply said, “Your father isn’t here anymore.”_ Allison was shocked at their mother’s behavior, she never would’ve disobeyed their father’s orders before, so to see her do so in such a sneaky manner was surprising, to say the least.

_The scene shifted to Luther and Allison sitting in the park, Allison watched Luther with a small smile, “That’s more like it. See?” Allison said as she laughed, “That’s the guy I know.”_

_“What?” Luther asked, “The guy who just ate ten hot dogs?”_

_“No, the guy who doesn’t need a mission to exist.” Allison replied. They talked about the impending apocalypse, how they kind of wished they didn’t know about it, how things would be different if they hadn’t (Allison) or had (Luther) left the Academy._

_Allison realized what time it was, saying that she needed to get to the airport and get back to Claire. As Allison started to walk off, heading back to the Academy, Luther stopped her. Then, in some dream sequence, Luther and Allison danced with each other, fairy lights around them, and the surrounding trees._

Klaus and Ben thought it was kind of cute. Diego and Five thought it was weird. While Luther and Allison were just embarrassed.

_As their dream dance sequence ended Allison asked Luther to come with her to L.A. and meet Claire. And Luther joined her._

_Meanwhile, back at the Commission, Five eavesdropped on Dot tell Gloria that The Handler knew Five was up to something and that she needed to send a message to Hazel and Cha-Cha immediately. As Gloria moved to send the message to Hazel and Cha-Cha, Five jumped behind her and, hopefully, knocked her out._

_Five picked the tube off the floor, replacing the previous message ‘Protect Harold Jenkins’,_ one that Klaus totally didn’t hiss at, _with his own messages to Cha-Cha and Hazel, ‘Terminate Hazel For Immediate Extraction’ and ‘Terminate Cha-Cha For Immediate Extraction’ respectively._ Needless to say, Diego had a newfound respect for Five’s creativity.

_The screen cut back and forth from Five typing the messages to Cha-Cha returning to their motel room, approaching the bathroom, suspecting Hazel was in it due to the shower being turned on, kicking open the door and firing several shots through the shower curtain, and when she pulled it back, expecting Hazel’s body, only to be meet with Hazel’s order taped to the tile and was knocked out by Hazel._

_Just after Five had sent the messages to Hazel and Cha-Cha, The Handler entered the Tube Room saying, “You know that’s not how we do things here. Where’s Gloria?”_

_“Don’t know.” Five replied, “Couldn’t find here anywhere.” Immediately after, Gloria groaned from where Five had left her behind her desk._

_The Handler’s face shifted from being pleasant, even if it had been fake, to being quite annoyed with Five’s behavior, “You’re a great disappointment to me.” The Handler said, “You can’t change what’s to come, Five. I truly find it so odd that you can’t shed this fantasy. You’re a first-rate pragmatist. You belong here with us.”_

“ _I don’t belong anywhere, thanks to you.” Five bit back, “You made me a killer.”_

_“You were always a killer.” The Handler countered, unzipping part of her dress and pulling the gun she had strapped to her leg, “I just pointed you in a direction.” As The Handler aimed at Five, he jumped away just as she fired._

_Back with Diego and Grace, the two were seen walking through the park together as Diego said, “Dad was wrong for keeping you locked up all those years. I should have said something. We all should have.”_

_“There’s something else that needs to be said, Diego.” Their mother said, “Pogo and I, we’ve been lying. Lying to all of you.”_

_The screen cut back to Five and The Handler’s shoot out before their mother answered. Gloria gasped awake at the shots as Dot returned to the room, setting off the security alarm._

“What? What did she say?” Klaus asked, not waiting for any responses as he fired off more and more questions, “What was she and Pogo lying about? Vanya? Dad? Some other awful thing we don’t know about yet? What? I need to know!”

“Klaus.”

“Yes Ben?”

“Calm down. And shut up.”

“For now.”

“Deal.”

_The scene jumped to Leonard taking some clothes to put in the dryer as Vanya stayed in his bedroom. And when she noticed a sock on the floor and went to grab it, she noticed a painfully familiar red book with ‘RH’ printed in gold on the cover. Vanya immediately started flipping through the book, finding a page with ‘Number Seven’ scrawled at the top, the rest of the page blurry, and the sentences about her powers being, ‘unlimited, uncontrollable, and dangerous’, how they ‘must remain a secret’, and how her medication was designed to be ‘mood-altering medication to keep her sedated’ being the only legible words._

As Five read each thing their father had written about his best friend and favorite sibling, he became absolutely furious. And if it wouldn’t cause such a big change in the timeline, he would’ve happily murdered their father then and there.

_The screen shifted again, rejoining Five and The Handler. The Handler shot anytime she saw a glimpse of Five and Five managed to get out of the way her shots._

_The scene shifted to Klaus, lying on the floor, still bound to the chair as a voice whispered, “Klaus.” Klaus blinked his eyes rapidly, his vision becoming clear enough to make out Dave’s ghost in the room with him._

_“Oh, my god.” Klaus cried, “I did it. It worked. Dave!”_ Klaus felt so happy. He actually conjured Dave! But then he realized, everything they were seeing hadn’t happened, because of something Five was probably about to do on screen.

_The screen rejoined The Handler and Five once more at the Commission as The Handler asked him, “Is this how you want the last line of your report to read?”_

_“When I’m done, I’m just done, I guess.” Five snarked back between jumps._

_“You can’t keep this up, Five.” The Handler said, “We both know that even you have a limit. I saved you from a lifetime of being alone. You owe me.” The Handler tried to shoot Five, now that he’d stopped jumping, only to find out that she was out of bullets._

_“I do owe a debt.” Five said before he jumped once more, “But it’s not to you.”_

“So, Five,” Diego said, “who did you owe a debt to?”

“None of your business.” Five bit back.

Ben guessed, “Vanya?”

“Maybe.” Five muttered, pointedly avoiding any looks he was getting from his siblings.

_Back at the Commission, Five unpinned the clip from one of the grenades from The Handler’s office and rolled it towards her, Five barely got out of the room before it erupted in an explosion. Five jumped away, into the briefcase room, swiping a briefcase before dropping a grenade into the room, running out just before the second explosion erupted._

_Five got hit with a piece of shrapnel as he jumped back to his siblings, as the ticking of a clock could be heard as the entire day went in reverse, Klaus conjuring Dave, Vanya finding their father’s notes under Leonard’s bed, Grace telling Diego some secret, Hazel knocking out Cha-Cha, Luther and Allison’s dance, Cha-Cha finding out about Hazel and Agnes, Allison and Luther in their fort, Luther finding the research, Cha-Cha almost shooting Hazel in the woods, Vanya’s upset rant and power display on the street, the Hargreeves quitting on stopping the apocalypse; right to Klaus asking Luther what made this attempt at stopping the apocalypse this time any different than the time they died. The text appeared at the bottom of the screen ‘Wednesday. 8:15 am.’ with the addition of ‘(again)’ added at the bottom._

_This time though, Five crash landed on the bar as he did in the timeline the five other siblings in the room remembered happening in their timeline. After getting some coffee Five told them, “The apocalypse is in three days. The only chance we have to save our world is, well, us.” he held up the message he’d swiped from Gloria, saying he came back with a lead, who he thought was responsible for the apocalypse, Harold Jenkins._

The black screen appeared once again saying, “The End of Episode Six of Ten: The Day That Wasn’t. Up Next Episode Seven of Ten: The Day That Was.”

This time, rather than giving Five the wonderful immediate start of the next episode, the VHS player spat out out tape; and in hopes of avoiding any looks or comments from his siblings, Five jumped over, switched the tapes, and jumped back within seconds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING!
> 
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	8. The Day That Was

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Ben watch episode seven The Day That Was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this was like a month late, but it's here! The next chapter will be up as soon as I finish it.

Five settled back into his seat as the fourth of the five tapes started on the familiar text reading, “Episode Seven of Ten: The Day That Was” as the screen remained black and _the sound of a baby crying and Pogo, oddly once again, narrating._

_“On the seventh hour of the first day of October, 1989, a woman went into labor.” Pogo said as the screen shifted from blackness to a hospital room as a woman gave birth._

_Once the baby was born, one of the doctors brings the baby to the presumably father. As the doctor handed the baby to the father she said, “Mr. Jenkins, meet your son.”_ Allison, Klaus, and Ben glared at the baby version of the asshole that manipulated their sister while Five was watching meticulously for any clues to help him, them, stop the apocalypse.

_Pogo’s narration returned as he said, “This was unusual in no way whatsoever. The culmination of a normal, average pregnancy. The child was average in every way. Unfortunately for the world, the circumstances of his raising were anything but.” In the hospital room, just as Mr. Jenkins named his son, Harold, several beeps and alarms sounded throughout the room. It was easy to assume that Harold’s mother had died just after giving birth to her son._

_The scene shifted from the hospital room to Harold, around 13 years old, playing with various Umbrella Academy toys. As Harold played, his father arrived home from work and is instantly annoyed with Harold, seemingly for merely existing,_ unfortunately reminding them of how their father treated Vanya for their entire childhood.

As much as she hated they guy, Allison felt a bit bad for Harold/Leonard. Growing up without a mom must’ve been hard. Even though they didn’t have a normal childhood or family by far and they had a really shitty father, but they at least had a mother who cared about them and they had each other, Harold/Leonard didn’t seem to have anyone.

_After Harold’s father sent Harold to fetch him a beer from their kitchen, Harold got distracted by a Umbrella Academy comic book he’d left on the counter. And when Harold hadn’t retuned with his beer, his father came into the kitchen and found Harold reading the comic book, and the screen froze on Harold urning around just as his father raised a hand to slap his son._

_The screen jumped from Mr. Jenkins about to beat his son to Harold sewing a costume or uniform of some kind and cutting a mask out of some paper, tears running down his face._ Klaus, much like Allison, felt a bit bad for the guy, definitely able to relate to the shitty childhood, but he couldn’t feel too bad for the guy, knowing what he’d do to his sister and his own father and whatever other shit they don’t know about yet.

_The tv switched from Harold working on his version of the Umbrella Academy uniform to him wearing it to one of their fan gatherings after a mission. Their car pulled on screen and one by one, starting with Reginald, the Umbrella Academy exited the car and began returning to the manor with minimal interaction._

_As most of the Hargreeves boys passed Harold, returning to the house, Harold jumped over the barricade and grabbed Allison’s arm, which caused Luther to pull him off their sister._ Ben wanted to know why this guy kept harassing his sisters.

_Reginald, seeming to realize something was happening, turned around from his return to the house and ordered for Harold to “Get back behind the barricade!” Their father approached Harold as the Umbrella Academy waited for their father on the front steps of their house. Harold pleaded with their father to let him join the Umbrella Academy. Not giving Harold a second of hope, their father quickly shut him down saying, “You don’t have a power. You never will have power. Now, go home.”_

“Well, isn’t he just a ray of sunshine?” Klaus mocked. God, why does their father have to be such a prick?

_And when Harold pleaded with their father once again to let him stay and not force him to return to his father, Reginald said, “A little word of advice, my boy. Not everyone in this world can be powerful. Chasing something unattainable is a recipe for a lifetime of disappointment and resentment.” Their father’s tone changed from being pseudo nice to being royally pissed off, “So get off my property.” As their father practically threw Harold off their property, the surrounding crowd began laughing at him._

“Okay. I’m a little lost.” Klaus said.

“Aren’t you always?” Ben mocked.

“Shut it Ben.” Klaus hissed, “Anyway, I remember most of this happening, but not the crowd laughing at him part.”

A quiet murmur spread across the Hargreeves children about what had happened that day when Allison said, “It’s probably in his head.” and at the confused looks on some of her brothers’ faces she continued, “Reginald, the grade A asshole he is, threw him off the property and in his head, when he thinks about all this happening,” Allison waved a hand toward the tv, “he remembers it being far worse than it actually was.”

“And that’s probably where his resentment for the Umbrella Academy came from.” Diego added, face completely devoid of any emotion other than typical annoyance for Diego. Another murmur, this one of agreement, spread across the Hargreeves.

_The screen jumped back to Harold’s house, in their attic as he stands in front of his Umbrella Academy memorabilia, an angry look on his face, looking at the still empty place for Reginald Hargreeves in his action figures as his father calls him back downstairs._

_Once he got downstairs, his father noticed him still wearing his homemade Umbrella Academy uniform. His father slapped him and sent Harold to get him another beer. As Harold went to get his father a beer, rather than bringing him a beer, Harold brought a hammer with him and bashed his father’s skull in._ Klaus suppressed jumping from his seat in shock while Luther, Allison, and Ben gasped as they watched the psychopath that had kind of dated their sister, for like a week, and had been in their house, bashed his father’s head in.

_The screen switched to another black screen with the text ‘He got twelve years’ as the sound of cell bars played. When the scene returned, Harold was being released from prison._

_And soon after Harold, now Leonard, was shown reading a newspaper in front of The Academy just as Klaus was shown walking out of the house, holding the same ornate box containing their father’s journal. Leonard watched and followed Klaus into the alley where he dumped all the contents of the box into the dumpster. And once Klaus left, Leonard jumped into the dumpster and pulled out the red journal with their father’s golden initials on the cover._

Klaus hated himself for being so careless, throwing out important information about his sister’s secret powers, letting Leonard get the journal, leading to his sister be manipulated by that psychopath, the list goes on. He couldn’t’ve possibly known that something as simple as a bejeweled box full of papers would lead to the end of the world; but he still felt like shit.

_The scene switched from Leonard flipping through the journal to Allison holding the order Five had stolen from The Commission that had been intended for Hazel and Cha-Cha at the end of the previous episode. As Allison read the note ‘Protect Harold Jenkins for immediate extraction.’ she asked “Harold Jenkins?”_

_“Who the hell is Harold Jenkins?” Diego asked as Luther, Diego, Allison, and Klaus looked at Five for answers while their brother finished off his coffee._

_Once the cup was emptied, Five threw the cup haphazardly into the living room and said, “I don’t know, yet.” As Five continued the screen switched to Leonard listening from upstairs as he grabbed the Reginald Hargreeves figurine while Five said, “But I do know that he’s responsible for the apocalypse. So we have to find him. And we have to do it now.”_

While their past/future conversation continued on screen Allison gasped, again. “The cabin!” And at her brothers’ confused looks she explained, “When he overheard us talking about having to find him, even though we didn’t know it was him at the time, that must’ve been when he decided to go to the cabin. Because in the first timeline, or The Day That Wasn’t, Leonard never took Vanya to the cabin his grandmother had in the woods, but if he overheard us looking for him-”

“He’d try to get away and stay hidden from us as long as possible.” Five finished.

And Klaus jumped in, “Like his creepy ass, horror movie style, cabin in the woods!” 

_Back on screen, just after being shown a sped up version of Vanya’s powers fucking up the cars and light poles again, the screen rejoined the Hargreeves siblings as Allison said, “I’m sorry. Am I the only one that’s skeptical here? I mean, how exactly do you know of this about what’s his name?”_

Five gave his siblings, mostly Allison, dirty looks for their lack of faith in him while _Five on screen bit back, “Harold Jenkins.” Once he had his four present, or at least visible siblings’ attention Five continued, “You know those lunatics in masks who attacked the house?” Klaus and Diego both said they remembered the lunatics that had attacked them while Five was off getting drunk as Allison and Luther were giving Five disbelieving and measuring looks. Ignoring his siblings’ looks and comments Five continued, “Yeah. Them. They were sent by the Temps Commission to stop me from coming back and preventing the end of life on Earth.”_

_Klaus had crawled onto a near by couch as Five spoke, while Luther, Diego, and Allison looked at Five confused as Allison asked, “The Temps what?”_

_“My former employer.” Five bit back “They monitor all of time and space to make sure that whatever is supposed to happen, happens. They believe the apocalypse is coming in three days. So I went to Commission headquarters and intercepted a message that was meant for said lunatics. ‘Protect Harold Jenkins.’ So he must be responsible for the apocalypse.” As Five spoke, various shots of Luther, Diego, Allison, and Klaus were shown, with mixed looks of confusion, disbelief, and annoyance._

“In a way yes.” Klaus said, “Literally, sadly, no.”

_Once Five had finished speaking Allison and Luther started asking Five various questions, talking over each other as Diego walked back to the bar and Klaus curled up on his couch, claiming his skin felt like it was on fire._

Diego glanced over to his brother, trying to check on him, not letting himself let Klaus fall through the cracks again. It seemed the Klaus, hearing his future self talking about his skin feeling as if it were on fire caused him to scratch at an imaginary itch, scratching the skin on his wrist to a bright pink, while Ben gently pulled and held Klaus’s hands to keep him from hurting himself any further.

_Back on screen, just after Allison asked Five if he knew how insane he was sounding, Five countered with, “You know what else is insane? I look like a 13 year old boy. Klaus talks to the dead, and Luther thinks he’s fooling everybody with that overcoat.” Luther both on and off screen seemed a bit offended. Five finished, “Everything about us is insane. It always has been.”_

“You know,” Ben started, “not including the guy with the weird obsession with knives, a woman who used to have a life built on lies, a formerly dead brother that has an eldritch creature that comes through his stomach, and their sister who they were told doesn’t have powers but actually has end-of-the-world moon-shattering terrifyingly-cool powers.” And at the glares he was getting from Diego, Allison, Luther, and Five, Ben added, “It’s not like we could’ve expected anything we’d ever do would be anything but insane.”

_Klaus, from his spot on the couch agreed, “He’s got a point there.”_

_“We didn’t choose this life, we’re just living it.” Five continued, not acknowledging Klaus’s input, “For the next three days, anyway.”_

_“But the last time we tried to stop it, we all died.” Allison challenged, “Why is this time any different? Why shouldn’t I go home to my daughter?”_

_Five, both on and off screen, looked annoyed at Allison challenging him on why they should be trying to stop the apocalypse as he said, “Because this time, I’m here. We have the name of the man responsible. Guys, we actually have the chance of saving the lives of billions of people.” Luther, Diego, Allison, and Klaus still didn’t seem to be motivated enough to try stopping the apocalypse so Five added, “Including Claire.”_

Five still felt a bit bad for using Claire against Allison to get her to work with him stop the apocalypse. And from the corner of his eye, he saw her stiffen at the mentioning of her daughter, who may or may not be lost to time. He was still working out the semantics of the impact and possibilities of Allison having Claire again would have on the fate of Vanya possible causing the apocalypse for a third time in nearly eighteen years in the future. But he, like Allison, was hoping there’d be a way for his sister to have her daughter back.

_Allison on screen seemed surprised that Five knew her daughter’s name, to which Five replied, “I do, and I’d like to live long enough to meet her.” Allison, finally realizing her daughter’s life was on the line joined Five, soon followed by Diego, kind of Luther, whom said he was going to look for his moon research, still hoping for a reason for spending four years on the moon._

_Five, Allison, and Diego went off to the police station, hoping to get more information on whoever Harold Jenkins was while Luther and Klaus stayed back at the house. Luther to find his research and Klaus to try to deal with the shitty effects of withdrawal._

_The scene changed with a swoosh of the Commission’s tubes to yet another motel, this one the Fortune Smiles Motel, where Hazel was reading the familiar message of the terminated contract to kill Number Five and await further instruction. Following Hazel this time instead of Cha-Cha after their argument, the screen showed Hazel getting a similar message at the vending machine that Cha-Cha had gotten in the previous episode, but instead of reading ‘Terminate Hazel for immediate extraction.’ it read ‘Terminate Cha-Cha for immediate extraction.’_

“That may have been one of your greatest plans ever Five.”

“Thanks Klaus.”

“Would’ve been better if there was an elephant, some baby oil, and a hooker.”

“Klaus for the love of god, shut up.”

_The screen switched back to Diego, Allison, and Five in Diego’s car just outside the police station. As Diego turned off his car, he said, “I know this Jenkins dude has to have a record. We just gotta get our hands on this file.”_

_“And your plan is to what?” Allison questioned, “Waltz in there and just ask for it?”_

“That would’ve worked like a day earlier.” Ben noted.

_Instead Diego said, “I know the station lie the back of my hand, sis. I’ve spent a lot of time inside.”_

“As a cop? Or vigilante?” Klaus mocked, still not as jovial as he typically was.

_Allison seemed to share the same thinking as Klaus as she added, “Handcuffed.”_

_“Whatever.” Diego ignored, “Here’s the plan.”_

_“Plan?” Five questioned, “I’m just gonna blink in and get the file.”_

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you call one of your jumps a blink.” Ben said, “When did you start doing that?”

“I will kill you.” Five hissed.

“Rude.”

_Five and Diego bickered about who would get the file for a bit, before Diego revealed that he’d already made a call to someone at the station about getting the file._

_In the next scene, Beeman is shown walking down an alley by the station as Diego waits for him in the shadows of a doorway. As Beeman gives Diego something, definitely not the file, he tells their brother that he knows Diego didn’t kill Eudora but the precinct seemed to be pinning her murder on him, due to their heated arguments and his prints being all over the scene. Diego convinces Beeman to trust him and get him the file on Harold Jenkins that he needs._

“Why didn’t you tell us they were suspecting you of murder?” Luther asked, “We could’ve helped you.”

“I told Allison.” Diego countered.

Allison scoffed and defended with, “Right before they arrested you.”

“Is that where you went?” Klaus asked, “I was wondering where you’d run off to.”

“We’re getting off topic.” Five bit.

Ben rolled his eyes and snarked, “Calm down grandpa.”

_The scene jumped from Diego and Beeman in the alleyway to Allison trying to call Vanya at a nearby pay phone while Five was shown waiting impatiently on a nearby wall. As the call went to voicemail, Vanya’s voice could be heard on the answering machine, “This is Vanya. Leave a message, I’ll get back to you.” followed by a beep._

_“Hey, Vanya, it’s me.” Allison started, “I just wanted to. Things have just gotten so messed up. And, all I ever wanted was to be a good sister to you. Guess I pretty much failed at that. But you need to call me. Okay? I love you, sis.”_

“That was so, touching.” Klaus said, holding a hand to his heart, the other still in Ben’s grasp.

_Just after Allison hung the phone up, Diego returned to them with Harold Jenkins’s file. Allison grabbed it out of his hand as he pulled it away from Five, and as Allison opened the file a look of surprise crossed her face while Five and Diego both looked confused and annoyed. When she recognized the picture of Harold Jenkins as Leonard Peabody she said, “Holy shit.”_

_“What?” Diego asked._

_Allison showed her brothers the picture of Harold Jenkins/Leonard Peabody she said, “Harold Jenkins is Leonard Peabody.”_

“Man, she sure knows how to pick ‘em.” Klaus joked quietly, so that Ben was the only one who heard him, knowing he’d get some dirty looks from namely Five and Allison if he’d said it any louder.

_Back at the house, Luther once again found all of his research unopened by their father, and this time, with no Allison there to comfort him, in the next scene he was shown getting himself a drink from the bar when Klaus found him._

_This time, like Luther with Allison, with no Diego around to tie him up in an attempt to get sober and see Dave, Klaus asked Luther to tie him up before he realized what Luther was doing and asked “Are you drinking?” And when Luther half-turned to face Klaus, with very unsteady balance, Klaus laughed as he said, “Holy shit, you’re drunk. And you busted into Dad’s liquor cabinet. He’s gonna be so pissed.”_

“That’s when I should’ve shut up, for once in my life.” Klaus muttered, to what he thought was himself, but his nosy siblings, as he’d affectionately call them, had heard him.

Diego was the first to break the kind of nervous quiet that had befallen the group, “What are you talking about Klaus?”

“It’s nothing. Really.” Klaus waved off, “I’m not even mad about it.”

“Mad about what?” Allison asked.

“Oh, with the way things have been going I’m sure you’ll see.” Klaus said, “But if it doesn’t I’ll tell you guys between the things.” waving at the screen.

“Seriously Klaus, what are you talking about?” Luther asked.

Klaus seemed surprised for a second, as did Ben, before Klaus asked, “You don’t remember?”

“Remember what?” Luther asked, “What are you talking about?”

Ignoring the confused looks he was getting from four of his present siblings, Klaus leaned back in their father’s chair and said, “Well, this just got a whole lot more interesting.”

_Luther, now fully turned towards Klaus ordered his brother to “Get him. Dad. Do it, now.” Klaus’s seemingly joyful mood was gone as he sourly reminded Luther that he couldn’t just summon their father on a whim. Just as Klaus said he couldn’t Luther grabbed Klaus by his throat, holding their brother against one of the columns in the room as Klaus choked and gasped for air._

“What the hell Luther?” Diego yelled.

Allison gasped, “Oh my god.”, not believing that Luther would’ve decided to choke their brother so quickly for not doing what he wanted him to do.

Meanwhile, Luther was shocked at what he’d done to his brother on screen, not remembering anything from that day after finding the unopened moon research. As Diego kept yelling at him, demanding answers for his actions, Luther ignored him and instead turned to look at Klaus who seemed extremely uncomfortable again. “Klaus,” Luther started, “I am so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“It’s okay Luther.” Klaus said, “I know you weren’t in a good state of mind. And that’s not even the one I was talking about.”

“What time are you talking about then?” Five asked.

Klaus waved off yet another brother as he said, “Again, I’m sure it’ll show us what I’m talking about.”

_As Luther seemed to realize what he was doing he dropped Klaus, said brother falling to the floor in a gasping and coughing heap. As Klaus tried to regain his breathing, Luther stumbled over to the couch, working himself up as Klaus tried to calm him down._

_Luther seemed to be doing better for a moment before crying again, saying he wanted to be carefree like Klaus. Klaus countering Luther’s deluded desires, reminding him that no one should be wanting to be like him, instead suggesting Luther just sleep it off, which he did not want to do._

_Instead Luther said he’d do it himself, and when Klaus tried to stop him, Luther shoved Klaus away and Klaus literally skid across the floor as Luther stormed out of the house._

“What the hell Luther?” Diego repeated.

Allison, instead of even trying to defuse the situation, turned to ask Klaus, “Is that the time you were talking about Klaus?”

“Nope.” Klaus replied shortly, a mix of amused and uncomfortable.

_The scene changed from Klaus still lying on the floor to Hazel and Cha-Cha once again driving into the middle of the woods. And once again, instead of following Cha-Cha’s actions during their search of the woods the screen followed Hazel’s actions. Unsurprisingly, just as Cha-Cha had been planning to kill Hazel in the woods, Hazel had been planning to kill Cha-Cha in the woods as well, but changed his mind. Instead he tried to convince Cha-Cha that they should just quit and enjoy their lives._

“Is anyone else kind of bored of the Hazel and Cha-Cha stuff?” Allison asked, “I mean they don’t really add anything like relevant.”

_Once again back at their motel, Hazel offered to go get them food while Cha-Cha seemingly stayed back. A moment later Hazel stopped right in front of Griddy’s and honked for Agnes to come out._

_Rather than stay with Hazel and Agnes the screen switched to Allison, Five, and Diego approaching Leonard/Harold’s house as Allison said, “Be careful, okay? We don’t know what Peabody’s capable of.”_

_Despite Allison’s warning, Diego countered, “Yeah, he didn’t seem dangerous when I first saw him. Looked kind of scrawny.”_

_Yeah, well, so are most serial killers and mass murderers.” Allison challenged, “I mean, look at him.” glancing at Five as they walked. Who replied with a short “Thanks.”_

“Are you guys seriously about to break into this guys house?” Luther questioned.

“Well,” Five said, “one of us actually broke his house.”

And Ben guessed “Diego?”

“Yep.” Allison answered.

_Diego and Five walked up to Leonard’s front door, neither noticing Allison walking around to the back of the house, as Diego said, “Good point. So what’s this guy want with Vanya?”_

_“I don’t know.” Five replied, “How about we ask him after we kill him?” Diego started to explain his plan to what he’d thought was Five and Allison, but after realizing that Allison was gone, Diego started to explain something but Five jumped away while he was talking._

_A few seconds after Five and Allison had found their own ways into the house, Diego took a running start and jumped through the glass pane in the front door of Leonard’s house, only to be meet with a disappointed and mocking Allison and Five. Allison said a mocking “Subtle.” while Five revealed that the door had been left unlocked._

“Nicely done Diego.”

“Shut it Klaus.”

“Never.”

“Klaus.”

“Fine.”

_The three spread out through Leonard’s house to look for any clues about the guys plans, and if possible figure out how they involve their sister. As they looked through the house, Allison quickly made her way to the attic that had been left unsearched in her last look through his house. And whatever she’d found in the attic, she called Diego and Five, saying they needed to take a look at whatever she’d seen._

_The scene switched to various Umbrella Academy merchandise and memorabilia, all of which had their eyes and/or faces scratched or melted off. Diego called it creepy as they looked at the destroyed products while Five agreed and Allison came to the conclusion that, “This was never about Vanya. This was about us.” And right after Allison said that, Five collapsed on the floor._

“And you guys say I’m dramatic.” Klaus mocked with a roll of his eyes

_Allison and Diego both turned from the ruined Umbrella Academy memorabilia to look for the source of the noise, and upon realizing it was their brother Allison called, “Five!”_

_As Diego and Allison tried to figure out what was wrong with their brother, Allison noticed the blood seeping through Five’s shirt, and upon lifting his shirt up slightly, Allison and Diego saw the bloody, and possible infected, injury Five had gotten from his fight with The Handler in the previous episode._

_Diego asked Five why he hadn’t told them about his injury and Five ignored Diego’s question and instead told Allison and Diego that they needed to keep going and that they were so close to stopping the apocalypse._

“We really can’t take care of ourselves can we?” Ben muttered to himself, eliciting a laugh from Klaus who was the only other person who could hear him.

_As soon as the words managed to escape Five he lost consciousness, and despite Diego and Allison’s best efforts he seemed to be staying that way unless they got him some medical care._

_The scene jumped from a worried Diego and Allison with an unconscious Five to Leonard and Vanya arriving at an unfortunately familiar cabin._

Upon seeing Leonard’s stupid face again Klaus whined, “Ugh, not that asshole again.”

_Vanya was surprised at how nice the cabin was and asked Leonard whose it was again, to which he replied, “This is Grandma’s place.”_

“Oh, no.” Klaus said, “Don’t tell me he killed his grandma too.”

“Why would you think that?” Ben asked.

“Well, dear Benjamin,” Klaus replied, “he’s already murdered his dear old asshole of a dad, and he killed that Helen lady, who’s to say he stopped there?”

Allison remembered the three guys that Leonard had paid to harass him and her sister, and that two of them were killed; but she wasn’t quite sure if they’d consider it Leonard’s fault they died because he paid them to be there and put them in harm’s, Vanya’s, way or if her brothers, namely Luther, would blame Vanya because she had been the one who killed them, albeit accidentally. But Allison was sure there was a reason for it, because for as long as she’d known Vanya, not as well as she would wish but still, her sister didn’t seem like the type of person to be violent without probable cause.

_As Leonard continued to look around the cabin, he found a framed picture of himself when he was younger, and looking quite uncomfortable standing next to his father, who looked surprisingly happy, posed together both holding various fishing supplies._

_While Leonard was looking at the picture, Vanya walked up behind him, asking him if he was okay, seeing that he seemed to be reminiscing about the shitty times he had with his father. To which Leonard replied with an angry look on his face, “You spend your whole life trying to forget about the crap you went through as a kid. You know? And then, the second you step back in, you feel just as insignificant.”_

“He makes it really hard to tell when he’s faking, and when he’s being genuine.” Luther said.

“Yeah.” Allison agreed, “But that was his whole goal. Probably.” 

Diego asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s kind of like an acting role.” Allison explained, “You kind of build up this backstory and persona in your head, and the goal is to make it difficult for people to be able to tell you are acting. Because if people can easily figure out you’re acting-”

“Then people can easily see through your bullshit!” Klaus finished.

Allison nodded and added, “Not exactly what I was going to say, but yeah.”

_Vanya told Leonard that she knew how he felt, having basically gone through a very similar thing a few hours earlier. And upon seeing exactly how upset Leonard seemed to be Vanya suggested, “You know, we don’t have to stay here. We can just, go to a shitty motel or something.”_

_Leonard, quickly changing gears replied “No.” and as he turned to look at Vanya rather than the picture a small smile spread across his face, “It’s perfect for what we need to do.”_

“We?” Five questioned, god he hated this guy.

_Vanya seemed to have a similar train of thought as Five because she asked, “Which is what, exactly?”_

_“We need to find out what you’re truly capable of.” Leonard answered. And at Vanya’s hesitance to accept once again that she did in fact have powers Leonard continued, “Remember what you said the day we met? Practice makes perfect.”_

“I’m fairly certain she did not say that jackass.” Klaus mocked.

_Vanya, getting a bit annoyed at Leonard’s insistent desire to explore her possibly real powers, snapped back, “Yeah, this is a little different than chord progressions.”_

Klaus laughed a bit and said, “She’s got you there dude.”

_“I mean, if I do.” Vanya started, seeming to not be able to bring herself to even say that she might have powers, before continuing, “Look, I can’t even say it. I can’t wrap my head around. There’s-”_

_“Vanya.” Leonard said, cutting off their sister, “You’ve spent your entire life feeling less than your brothers and sister, only to discover you’ve had this in you the entire time. You owe it to yourself to discover what that really means.” Leonard’s voice had shifted from the increasingly angry and bitter it had been to a much softer one as he finished with an, “Okay?”_

“This guy is a fucking roller coaster of emotion.” Klaus said, “Like, one second he’s sad, then he’s angry, and now he’s, what, reassuring, calm? It doesn’t make sense.”

_Vanya nodded in agreement and Leonard continued, “Clear your mind. Focus. Where better to do that than here?” As Leonard opened a window in the cabin the screen moved show just how isolated and far from any other people they were in the woods._

_The scene jumped back to Hazel and Agnes, now standing behind Griddy’s again as Hazel told Agnes, “I’m leaving. I want you to come with me.”_

_“Where?” Agnes asked._

“Can I just say,” Klaus said, “that they are one of the cutest couples I’ve ever seen.”

_“Anywhere.” Hazel answered, “It doesn’t matter to me. Let’s just fly away, like those warblers.”_

_Agnes, seeming to notice something amiss with Hazel, asked, “Is everything okay?”_

_“Sure, everything's swell.” Hazel replied._

_“No, it isn’t.” Agnes countered, “Customer service, 32 years.You, you learn a thing or two.”_

_“It’s just work.” Hazel excused, “It’s a new assignment. Corporate. We’re supposed to follow orders, no questions asked, but,”_

_At Hazel’s hesitation Agnes asked, “But what?”_

_And Hazel replied, “I don’t want to. Not anymore. I’m done playin’ their games. I ready for a change. I think you are too.”_

“As cute as this is, what does the whole Hazel/Agnes thing have to do with the apocalypse?” Allison asked.

“If I’m not to be mistaken,” Five said, “the whole Hazel/Agnes thing is what caused Hazel to turn on the Commission, to turn his and Cha-Cha’s guns over to me, clearing Diego’s name in the Patch case, and I believe delayed Cha-Cha’s arrival at the theater.”

_“Okay.” Agnes decided, “It’s like what you said. Life is short, if you wanna do something, you just gotta, go for it.”_

_Hazel and Agnes talked about their newly developed plans to start a new life together for a bit until Agnes asked Hazel how his partner, Cha-Cha, took it, which he told Agnes that he hadn’t told his partner about his plans to leave quite yet. Agnes convinced Hazel to tell Cha-Cha about his plan to leave before they would leave for their new life. Unknown to the two Cha-Cha was watching their entire exchange in her search for Hazel._

Klaus was a bit worried for Agnes, knowing a bit too well what Cha-Cha was capable of. But he also knew that there was no way Hazel would let anything happen to her, right?

_The scene jumped into a dark alley with Klaus and Ben in their own search, their search for Luther. Before either of the brothers were shown, Ben’s voice could be heard trying to keep Klaus motivated enough to find their brother, “You can do this, Klaus. Luther needs you.” As Klaus and Ben came on screen, Klaus was still scratching at his arms while also holding his stomach as Ben looked concerned for Klaus._

_Klaus stopped in the midst of the alley, looking like he was about to vomit, and said, “This is, this is pointless. I, I’m goin’ home. I have to go home. I’m so dope sick.” As Klaus moved to go home, giving up on his search for Luther, Ben moved in front of him, causing Klaus to stop. Seeing that Ben moved in front of him, Klaus laughed and asked, “You know I could just walk through you, right?”_

_And Klaus did walk through Ben, as Ben said “But you need to keep trying. Help Luther.”_

_Klaus stopped in his return home, turning to face Ben as he said, “He could be anywhere right now, doing God knows what. You know what? This is probably a good thing. The big guy needs a life, and tonight he’s out experiencing the real world!”_

_“He’s not ready for it.” Ben countered._

“I was ready for it.” Luther muttered.

“No you were not.” Ben said.

“Not by a long shot.” Klaus added.

“What the hell happened?” Allison asked, “What are you guys talking about?”

“Was this the time you were talking about Klaus?” Diego asked, getting a small nod from his brother in question.

_Back on screen Klaus had his own counterpoint, “Well, who is? Was I? Were you?” And upon realizing what he was saying, Klaus immediately back tracked, dropping his gaze to the ground “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I know you weren’t ready to die violently at a young age. Oh, sobriety isn’t easy.”_

_Klaus’s gaze moved from the ground when he’d realized what he’d said back to Ben’s face, and after seeing the look on his brother’s face Klaus asked, “What? Why are you looking at me like that? It’s not my responsibility. I, I didn’t sign up to save you or him.”_

_“You’re right.” Ben said, “You didn’t.”_

Diego scoffed and noted, “This sounds so much like a parent scolding their child for something.”

_“But if you were in trouble,” Ben continued, “there is nothing in this world Luther wouldn’t do to save your scrawny little junkie ass.”_

“Damn Ben.” Five said.

Ben, remembering the following situation, now realized the irony in his previous statement.

_The screen moved back to the house just as Allison and Diego arrived, both carrying the arms or legs of an injured and bleeding Five. Allison, reasonably, said, “We should have just taken him to the hospital.”_

_Five, now awake, countered with, “A kid with a shrapnel wound might raise some questions.”_

“He’s got a point there Allie.” Klaus said.

_“Yeah, well,” Allison bit back, “so does the murder shrine in Harold Jenkins’ attic.”_

“So does she Klaus.” Ben snarked back, getting an elbow from Klaus.

_Allison and Diego deposited Five on one of the couches as Allison asked Diego, “He’s still losing a lot of blood. What do we do?”_

_Diego, without a second of hesitation, replied, “We gotta get the shrapnel out.” Diego then noticed their mother once again up and around and chased after her, ignoring Allison’s calls from the other room._

_As Diego tried to figure out how their mother was moving around again, the screen jumped back to Ben and Klaus in a different alley, still looking for Luther. “We’ve been to seven bars, three strip joints, and a laundromat.” Klaus said, “Luther’s not here. Can we go home now?”_

_“Would he give up on you?” Ben asked. Just after they turned a corner on a building, Klaus and Ben overhear some girls talking about seeing the ‘biggest hairy guy’ they’d ever seen, causing both brothers to hope they’d been talking about Luther._

“Oh no.” Luther gasped, realizing what he might’ve done.

“Oh yeah.” Klaus replied, mostly knowing what Luther had done, except during the time he was dead. But based on the disappointed look on Ben’s face, it probably wasn’t good.

_As Klaus and Ben entered what looked like a rave of some kind, almost immediately after entering they found Luther, dancing unabashedly, definitely drunk, probably high, and shirtless. Klaus repeatedly called Luther’s name, trying to get his brother’s attention; and when he did get Luther’s attention, he was not interested whatsoever in going home like Klaus and Ben wanted him to._

Seeing that he put Klaus in such a loud, bright, booze, and drug filled place while his brother was trying to get sober made Luther feel like a piece of shit. Not that he remembered ever going to the rave.

_Some girl at the rave, who thought Luther was furry,_ which would’ve been funnier if Luther had known what a furry was, _started dancing with Luther. Then Luther asked Klaus if he’d tried some pill, which Klaus said he had then promptly threw the pill across the room._

_Klaus tried to fight off the temptation of being in a place literally filled with vices to drown out the everything, even curling into a corner. But eventually Klaus couldn’t fight off the temptations anymore and began crawling towards a pill, similar to the one he’d thrown earlier. As he crawled some of the people around him shifted back to soldiers and the pill became Dave, once again dying in his arms for heart wrenchingly second time._

If he hadn’t said it before, Klaus was really starting to hate these stupid episodes and these stupid tapes making him watch Dave die over and over and constantly reminding him of how much of a fuck up he used to be. But he was trying. He was making an effort. He was still fucking sober. Doesn’t that count for something?

_Thankfully the screen switched back to the house where mom was tending to Five as and Diego watched and Allison approached. “Anything?” Diego asked._

_“There’s no answer at Vanya’s place.” Allison replied, “And the receptionist at her music school said she was a no-show for her lessons today.” Diego and Allison soon after started to head off to the relation’s address, his grandmother’s cabin, on Harold’s file._

_Shortly after the two left the house, Diego spotted some police cars heading their way. He told Allison that they were coming for him, blaming him for Eudora’s death, and he sent Allison to help Vanya while he dealt with the police. The police cars that had been outside flipped their lights and sirens on after seeing Diego and followed the two down the street until Allison split off. Shortly after Allison leaves, Beeman arrests Diego._

“Ah, the irony.” Klaus laughed.

_The screen moved back to Vanya and Leonard in the woods, specifically on the docks on the lake by Leonard’s cabin. Vanya and Leonard were shown standing at the end of the dock, “Look, I ju-.” Vanya said, sounding a bit upset, “I don’t think I can do this.”_

_“I know you can.” Leonard replied, “Vanya, you’ve seen what people with power can do. They can stand up for those who can’t defend themselves.”_

_“Yeah, and at what cost?” Vanya countered, “I watched everything my brothers and sister could do ruin their lives.”_

Several indignant noises of disagreement from most of the Hargreeves at first, but after a moment of truly thinking over Vanya’s words, several of the siblings could understand what she’d meant. Because truly none of them had a functioning, healthy adult life in the future. Hell Ben fucking died, Allison rumored her kid, Diego had gotten kicked out of the police academy, Luther was basically a science experiment gone wrong, Klaus had been high almost constantly, Five was stuck in the apocalypse then worked for a murderous time travel organization, and Vanya caused the goddamn apocalypse.

_Leonard on the other hand, held a different view of the other Hargreeves siblings, “They’re full of holier-than-thou bullshit. Like you said. That’s what’s ruined their lives. And that’s not gonna happen to you. Okay?”_

_Vanya turned back to the lake, trying to refocus on using her powers as Leonard instructed her, “Just try to move the boat.” Their sister took a steadying breath and held out her hand, trying to get the boat to move._

“As much as I love Vanya,” Klaus started, getting uneasy looks and glares from his siblings, “but she looks fucking stupid.”

_After a moment of trying to get the boat to move, Vanya cracked a smile before dissolving into laughter, saying that she couldn’t over and over, annoying Leonard. And when Leonard, very seriously, asked Vanya what was so funny, she replied, “I look and I feel ridiculous. I have no idea how they did this stuff with a straight face.”_

_“Because you’re not used to it,” Leonard rationalized, “that’s all.” Leonard’s tone quickly changed to a very angry and aggressive one as he said, “If you kept trying, maybe you would-” Leonard stopped himself when Vanya gave him a look._

_“You are so invested in this.” Vanya said._

_“I’m just trying to help you, Vanya. You can’t just give up that easily.” Leonard excused, before realizing he was sounding a bit off then apologized and suggested they were both tired and should take a break and get some dinner._

“This is such a toxic relationship.” Klaus muttered, getting the Hargreeves siblings’ attention.

Diego was the one to ask what several of them were thinking, “Care to explain Klaus?”

“Well,” Klaus started, “he’s really controlling and jealous, like when they were talking about training V’s powers he was always saying ‘we’ but when she wasn’t doing what he wanted he blamed her, making it ‘her’ fault. And he keeps trying to get her to cut ties with us and turn her against us. Oh, he also tries to make her dependent on him for everything. And when they went to the cabin, he knew she had lessons and rehearsals and stuff, like it’s her fucking job, but he ignored her schedule in favor of his wants.”

Another unnerved quiet fell over the Hargreeves siblings again, but this time with a very different question on their minds. And it was Allison who asked this time, “Klaus, you make it sound like you’ve had some experience with this stuff.”

“Well, it was,” Klaus started, not quite sure how to phrase what he wanted to say without upsetting his siblings too much, “you guys remember how I told Five when we were at, or I guess outside of, Meritech and I told him about the guy who made the fantastic osso buco-”

“Was it him?” Diego asked.

“No.” Klaus answered, “It was the guy after him. Real asshole, wonder where’s at nowadays.”

_The scene moved back to Hazel, entering his and Cha-Cha’s motel room, carrying a bag of presumably chinese food. As he briefly looked around the room, seeing that Cha-Cha wasn’t in the room, but as he looked he did notice a burnt piece of paper left in the trash. A burnt message from the Commission, a very similar message he had received from the Commission. Except on this message, it was addressed to Cha-Cha instead of him and that the order was to kill him instead of Cha-Cha._

“Ooh, this just got interesting!” Klaus gasped, popping up in his seat.

_Realizing that he and Cha-Cha had been given the same order, he devised a plan to stop Cha-Cha. Hazel was shown going into their room’s bathroom and turning on the shower before Cha-Cha returned to their room. Cha-Cha cocked her gun just before entering the room, and upon hearing the shower running, she quietly approaches the door, oblivious to Hazel watching her from behind some curtains._

_Cha-Cha kicked open the bathroom door and fired multiple shots into the shower, suspecting Hazel to be in the shower. Soon after, Cha-Cha charged forward and pulled back the shower curtain, only to reveal Hazel’s order to kill Cha-Cha taped to the tiles. Followed by Hazel knocking Cha-Cha out with the butt of his gun with a hit to the back of her head._

“Oh shit! Wait,” Klaus gasped, “does Cha-Cha kill Hazel? Because Cha-Cha was at the theater later while Hazel wasn’t.”

“But Hazel was at the house before the theater.” Ben replied.

Diego jumped in with “She probably killed him after he turned over their guns.”

“Well then what happened to Agnes? And Griddy’s?” Klaus asked.

Luther asked, “What do you mean? What happened to Griddy’s?”

“Dude.” Klaus gasped, “Someone blew up Griddy’s.”

“What?!” Five yelled.

“Shush Five,” Klaus mocked “we’re missing something on the oh so important tapes.”

_Back on screen, the scene had rejoined Klaus, Ben, and Luther the rave; specifically Klaus who now had the pill he’d thrown then crawled across the dance floor for. Klaus was about to take the pill when he saw the girl’s, who was now dancing with his brother, boyfriend walking very angrily toward’s Luther._

_Rather than take the pill, as much as he wanted to at the time, Klaus, with a little help from Ben, moved to help his oblivious brother from his approaching attacker. Klaus ran after the girl’s boyfriend and jumped on his back, trying to stop him from attacking Luther. But the guy called for some other guys to get Klaus off of him, and as Klaus called for his brother, desperate to get his brother’s attention, one of the guys around them threw Klaus to the ground. And once his head hit the ground the screen went black._

“What the fuck just happened?” Diego asked.

“What’s wrong with it?” Allison asked.

Klaus said, “Nothing’s wrong.”

“What? What do you mean?” Diego asked.

“You’ll see.”

_The screen came back in on Klaus, laying on the ground with everything around him and himself in a grayscale except for Klaus’s shirt. Klaus, very slowly, pushed himself off the ground, taking in his new grayscale surroundings. As he was looking around, he noticed a little girl riding a bike coming towards him._

“Is that her?” Ben asked Klaus.

“Yep.” Klaus answered.

_The girl nearly rode right into Klaus, saying she almost didn’t see him. She continued, saying that he was so pale he blended in with the black and white surroundings. “They don’t have any sun down there?”_

_“Down there?” Klaus repeated._

“Klaus.” Diego said.

“Diego.” Klaus replied.

“Did you fucking die?”

“Maybe.”

“Klaus.”

“Okay. Fine. Yes. But everything’s fine.”

_Klaus asked the little girl, “Where am I?”_

_“Where do you think?” She asked in return._

_“I’m not sure.” Klaus replied, “I'm agnostic, so-”_

__

“I can’t believe you told God you’re agnostic.” Ben told Klaus.

__

“Shut your pie hole Ben.” Klaus said back.

__

_“Doesn’t really matter.” The little girl said, cutting off Klaus, “You can’t stay here.”_

__

_“Why not?” Klaus asked her._

__

_“To be blunt,” She answered, “I don’t really like you all that much.”_

__

_And unfortunately, Klaus shared a similar sentiment, “Yeah, me neither.”_

__

Klaus was getting mad at himself again, for saying so many concerning things in the past because now he was getting more concerned and sad looks from his siblings that he absolutely did not want to have to deal with.

__

_Klaus, realizing he may or may not be actually talking to God asked, “Aren’t you supposed to love all of us?”_

__

_“Where’d you get that idea?” The little girl scoffed, “I need you so I can pick and choose. And you don’t rub me the right way.” After Klaus asked her a few more questions, which she seemed to be getting annoyed by, she told him that someone was waiting for him._

__

“Was it-?” Ben asked.

__

“No.” Klaus answered.

__

_Klaus hurried off to meet whoever was waiting for him, hoping it was Dave. As he entered the building, he was not met with the love of his life, but rather a barber shop and Sir Reginald Hargreeves._

__

Luther could feel some anger building up from seeing their father again after being reminded again that the four years he’d spent on the moon meant nothing.

__

_“What in God’s name took you so long?” Was the first thing Reginald said to Klaus. The second thing he said was, “I expected my son who can conjure the dead to have brought me forth days ago.”_

__

“He tried asshole!” Diego yelled, finding another pen to throw at their father’s stupid face.

__

“Not that hard.” Klaus muttered back, looking a bit embarrassed.

__

_As Klaus tried to explain that he had in fact tried to conjure their father, Reginald ignored most things Klaus said, instead continuing on, “You were poisoning yourself.”_

__

_“Well, what do you expect?” Klaus asked, “You’d just died. I was beside myself with grief.”_

__

_Reginald, still as sharp as a tack, saw through Klaus’s excuses and demanded, “Don’t you dare try to use me as an excuse for your weakness.” Klaus tried to remind their father that part of his drug problem started because of their father locking him in the mausoleum, which their father countered with, “You children like to blame everything on me.”_

__

_“Well, you were a sadistic prick.” Klaus told him, “Not to mention the world’s worst father.”_

__

_“I just wanted you to live up to your potential.” Reginald excused, “You especially. You’re my greatest disappointment Number Four.”_

__

“Fuck you asshole!” Ben yelled at their father.

__

_“You only scratched the surface of what you were truly capable of.” Reginald continued, “If only you’d focused. No, instead, you pump yourself full of poison because you’re afraid. Afraid of what? The dark?”_

__

_“You know,” Klaus said, interrupting their father’s rant about his wasted potential and bad habits, “I suggest you get down off your high horse there, dear Papa. You never had our best interests at heart. Look at your precious Number One. Luther found all the unopened letters he sent you. He knows you sent him up to the moon for nothing.”_

__

_“That was foolish of me.” Reginald admitted, “I should have burned it all.”_

__

Ben wondered if their father had always been such a prick, or if it was the old age and death that made him so much worse.

__

_Klaus laughed in disbelief and asked their father, “That’s your takeaway?”_

__

_“Not an ideal solution, I confess.” Reginald said, “But I knew that the world would soon need him, need all of you, and I had to do what was necessary.” There was a beat of silence between the two before their father asked, sounding a little genuinely concerned for once in his life, well, afterlife, “Is he okay?”_

__

_“Do you care?” Klaus questioned._

__

_Reginald seemed a bit offended at Klaus question and snapped back, “Everything I did, everything I put you through, it was to prepare you, for something bigger than yourselves. You never understood that.”_

__

_“We were just kids.” Klaus said, not believing their father’s rationale._

__

_“You were never just kids.” Reginald said, “You were meant to save the world.” Klaus asked their father how he knew about the apocalypse, and their father told Klaus that he knew he had to bring his Umbrella Academy together, saying that he had to do something momentous. Kill himself._

__

_Music from the rave slowly built up, before taking Klaus back from death in the barbershop to life on the floor at the rave. Klaus shot up from the floor with a gasp, life literally re-entering his body._

__

Even though his brother was literally sitting a few feet away from him, alive and breathing, Diego couldn’t help the sigh of release that escaped him once his brother on screen came back to life. He also wanted to kill Luther big time.

__

_As the screen showed that just about everyone at the rave had been standing around Klaus’s body as a few tried to presumably resuscitate him. Klaus tried to look around and called for Luther but not finding him, then someone in the crowd yelled that the bouncers had kicked him out._

__

Luther hadn’t even realized his brother had fucking died protecting him, because he was too busy with, he didn’t even know the girl’s name. God he sucked.

__

_The screen switched to Vanya and Leonard walking out of some restaurant, and as they walked to Leonard’s car there were three guys standing around the car drinking beers._

__

As the guys by the car looked over at her sister and Leonard, Allison recognized one of the guys as the sole survivor of the impending ‘attack’ from her sister. However, she was a little worried about how some, or one, of her brothers would react to it.

__

_Leonard and one of the guys bickered for a bit, Leonard trying to get them to move to another car while the other guy was insistent that they stayed. Once the guy offered Leonard to trade getting his car back in exchange for Vanya, that offer did not sit well with any of the Hargreeves, Vanya essentially told the guys to fuck off and as she walked by the guy Leonard, he slapped their sister’s butt._

__

Allison was pissed because, of course the only one of these dicks that lived was the one that sexually harassed her sister. Men fucking suck.

__

_A light rain, the steadily became heavier, rolled in as Leonard told the guys to not touch her, which lead to Leonard getting his ass beat by two of the guys while the other one held Vanya back as she screamed for help._

__

_As the rain morphed into a thunderstorm, the third guy joined the other two in beating up Leonard. After realizing that no one was around to help, Vanya charged forward and pushed one of the guys away from Leonard. Then a wave of power radiated from Vanya, sending the other three guys flying._

__

Every time the tapes showed that seemingly random things Vanya could do with her powers, Five was more and more fascinated. He needed to know everything that her powers could do so they, he, could best help train her to control them.

__

_The scene jumped from Vanya checking on Leonard to Cha-Cha, handcuffed to a radiator. Once Cha-Cha woke up and noticed Hazel’s presence, unable to say anything due to the tape on her mouth, as Hazel said, “Cha-Cha, I know this will be hard for you to understand, but I want out. I’m done. I quit. We’ve worked together for a long, long time. We’re good at what we do. We can kill anyone. But when I got the order to kill you, I knew I couldn’t do this anymore. I’d appreciate it if you would accept my wishes, and, we could go on our separate ways.”_

__

“This is not going to end well.” Five said, “Cha-Cha is going to at least try to murder Hazel, and by extension Agnes, for merely going against the Commission. She doesn’t give a shit about friends or relationships. Maybe other than with Hazel, a little. But other than that, just work.”

__

_After a moment, Hazel carefully pulled the tape from Cha-Cha’s mouth. Neither of them said anything, Cha-Cha avoiding looking at Hazel’s face, until Hazel asked Cha-Cha, “Aren’t you gonna say anything?”_

__

_“This world is ending,” Cha-Cha said “and here you are, only thinking about getting your dick wet. What? You think I ain’t know about you and your dried-up doughnut whore?”_

__

Klaus muttered a quiet “Yikes.” as Allison, Ben, and Luther grimaced at Cha-Cha’s poor choice of words.

__

_Hazel passionately defended Agnes, saying he was in love and had no intention of letting it go. Cha-Cha tried to convince Hazel to stay, but was unsuccessful, promising Hazel as he left that she’d kill him and his “ugly slut.”_

__

“She’s really mean.”

__

“Klaus she tortured you for like two days.”

__

“I know Ben, but still. Agnes didn’t deserve that.”

__

_The screen moved from Hazel, just leaving Cha-Cha, to Allison driving on her way to the cabin in the rain, then to Klaus and Ben walking home from the rave, to Luther making out with the girl from the rave, then to Diego pacing around in the holding cell, jumping to Five laying in his bed sleeping, before landing on Vanya in the waiting room of a hospital before a doctor approached her and lead her back to Leonard, who was missing an eye._

__

“Did you ever tell Vanya about the eye Five?” Ben asked.

__

Five replied, “I don’t think so. I can’t remember at this point. Too much shit has happened since I’d talked to Vanya in that timeline.”

__

_The screen moved back to Allison driving before the black screen appeared once again saying, “The End of Episode Seven of Ten: The Day That Was. Up Next Episode Eight of Ten: I Heard A Rumor.”_

__

“I don’t know about you guys,” Klaus said once the screen faded to the blackness between episodes and pushed himself from his seat, “but I need another break.”

__

Five, not wanting to take another break in the tapes snapped back, “No we need to finish these. Figure out what needs fixed. Stop the apocalypse.”

__

“I’m with Five.” Luther added.

__

Diego countered, “Well I agree with Klaus.”

__

“You guys’ stupid fighting is giving me a headache.” Allison said, Ben nodding in agreeance, “How about we take a vote? Majority rules?”

__

“What happens if we tie?” Diego asked.

__

To which Allison replied, “We’ll flip a coin or something. I don’t know. Luther and Five, you guys vote no break, correct?” Luther replied with a “Yes.” while Five simply nodded. 

__

“That’s 2 no’s; Klaus and Diego, you guys want a break?” Allison asked. Getting two nods from Klaus and Diego, one much more enthusiastic than the other.

__

“So, that brings us to 2-2, Ben you break the tie.” Allison decided.

__

“Why do I have to do it?” Ben asked, “Why can’t you break it?”

__

“Just vote Ben.” Klaus sighed, a hand holding his head.

__

Taking a look at his siblings and seeing their various tired states Ben said, “Let’s take a break.”

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING!
> 
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	9. I Heard A Rumor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Ben watch episode eight, I Heard A Rumor.

The six of them left their father’s office again, and almost immediately Allison pulled Luther away somewhere and Five disappeared in a blue flash, leaving Klaus, Ben, and Diego to roam the halls together.

Klaus walked slowly through the halls, a bit off balance, and still clutching his head as Ben and Diego shared a look while walking a step behind their brother. Ben and Diego sped up slightly to catch up with Klaus, Ben on the left and Diego on the right. Klaus barely looked over at his brothers before returning his gaze to the floor.

“Klaus,” Diego said, getting Klaus’s gaze for another brief moment, “are you alright?”

“Of course I am brother dearest.” Klaus laughed, but rather than sounding happy he sounded really sad, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Diego looked unsure as he said, “You just seem-

“-upset.” Ben finished.

“I’m not upset.” Klaus said, looking briefly between his brothers, a confused look on his face.

“Are you sure Klaus?” Diego asked, “Because we thought that maybe seeing-”

“Seeing Dave again would upset me?” Klaus guessed, and after receiving a nod from Diego he continued, “Sure I miss him, but I know he’d want me to be happy, with my family.” Klaus winced in pain and dropped his gaze back to the floor, “Ugh, withdrawal is a bitch, am I right?” Klaus muttered.

Diego and Ben shared another look before Diego said, “Wait. Withdrawal?”

“Yeah.” Klaus said, “Withdrawl, trying to stick with this whole ‘being sober’ thing. And god does it suck ass.”

Klaus lead them into the kitchen where Mom was frosting cupcakes, “Hey Mom.” Klaus called, pulling their mother’s attention.

“Why hello Klaus dear. Ben, Diego. What can I help you with?” Their mother asked.

“Can I get some water and an ice pack?” Klaus asked, “I have a headache.”

A surprised look crossed their mother’s face for a brief moment before she asked, “Again dear?” and once Klaus gave her a nod their mother quickly got Klaus a glass of water and headed to their medical room to get an ice pack.

Once their mother was gone Diego lightly hit Klaus’s shoulder, “Why didn’t you tell us you were going through withdrawal?”

“Again.” Ben added.

“And you guys would believe me?” Klaus questioned, “You guys didn't believe me two minutes ago!”

As much as Diego wanted to argue with Klaus that they would’ve believed him, but he had a point. They hadn’t believed him two minutes ago. And that, paired with the heels clicking towards them deterred any of Diego’s interest in arguing with Klaus.

Their mother walked in and wordlessly handed Klaus the ice pack, a light kiss to his forehead, and took Klaus’s now emptied glass to the sink to wash. Klaus put the ice pack on his head and Ben moved to take a seat across the table from his brother while Diego busied himself helping their mother with the cupcakes.

About five minutes later, Five jumped into the kitchen with them with a flash of blue, “We’re starting again in five minutes,” Five said, looking disinterested, “with or without you.” And with another flash he was gone.

Diego, Klaus, and Ben made their way back to the office, after saying good bye to their mother, and arrived just after Allison and Luther, the two telling them that their brother must have locked the door. Five must’ve heard them because he popped the door open and the five of them entered the office.

Once they’d all settled back into their seats, Allison pressed play in the VHS player and the text, “Episode Eight of Ten: I Heard A Rumor” before the screen opened on Allison driving in the rain at night again, presumably the same time that they’d been shown in the previous episode.

_As Allison drove, the screen flashed to Claire and Allison sitting on Claire’s bed, one year earlier._ Allison could almost immediately recognized what memory was being shown. One of the, unfortunately, many times she took the easy way out of motherhood and rumored her daughter into doing whatever she wanted.

_“This one?” Allison asked her daughter, holding up one of her various books. And when Claire rejected the book Allison asked again and again until she ran out of books, until Claire asked for the story of the Umbrella Academy stopping the robbers at the museum._

“You told her stories about us?” Diego asked, surprised that his sister would talk about them at all in her oh-so-perfect celebrity actress life.

“Of course I did.” Allison quickly defended, “You guys are my family.”

Five, fulfilling his role as Vanya’s best friend, asked, “What about Vanya?”

Allison looked quite offended at Five’s insinuation that she’d keep their sister a secret from her daughter, “Of course I told Claire about Vanya Five.”

_Back on screen, Allison, after making sure that was the story her daughter wanted, launched into retelling a child-friendly version of their museum robbery mission, Five already missing, calling her brothers Claire’s uncles,_ which absolutely did not make Klaus want to cry. God he’d been an uncle. 

_Once Allison finished telling her daughter, Claire asked her why ‘Auntie Vanya’ was never in an of her stories. Allison told Claire that Vanya didn’t come on missions with them because she was a little different than them._

“That’s one way to put.” Diego muttered, “Fucking hell Reginald.”

_Claire didn’t seem to like her mother’s answer while Allison tried to get her to go to bed. Which Claire did not want to do._

Luther asked, “Is this the time you-?”

“One of them.” Allison answered, “But this was the time Patrick saw it.”

_As Claire asked for more stories, The Eiffel Tower in particular, Allison grew more agitated with Claire’s defiance, leading up to their sister telling her daughter, “I heard a rumor, that you’re really tired, and you wanna go to sleep.” As the rumor reached her daughter’s ears, Claire visibly grew quite tired and fell asleep then and there._

Allison felt like one of the worst parents on the planet, possibly only being surpassed by their own father. How could she rumor her own daughter? If she ever got the chance to be with Claire again, she’d already promised herself that she’d never use her powers again, especially on her daughter and siblings.

_At the time Allison hadn’t known, but from Claire’s doorway Patrick stood, an angry look on his face. And as Allison tried to defend herself he stormed off._

_The screen flashed back to Allison driving in the rain as more rumors she’d made in the past were heard, each one gradually worse than the last, “I heard a rumor I made the soccer team.”, “I heard a rumor you wanna be my friend.”, “I heard a rumor you like broccoli.”, “I heard a rumor you left me alone.”, “I heard a rumor you stopped crying.”, “I heard a rumor I did it in one take.”, “I heard a rumor I’m perfect for this role.”, and “I heard a rumor that you love me.”_

“Jesus Allison.” Diego muttered. Needless to say, the brothers in the room were shocked at how much Allison used her rumor to get practically everything in her life outside of The Umbrella Academy, from her career to her husband and possibly daughter.

_As Allison speed up, trying to get to the cabin faster and escape the demons of her past. Once she arrived, Allison found no Vanya or Leonard, but did see Vanya’s violin case in the cabin._

_The scene jumped from Allison to Vanya, sleeping in a chair, at the hospital with a now empty bed next to her. Leonard woke up their sister, telling her that he was free to go but they wanted him to come back the next day for a check-up and to be fitted for a prosthetic eye._

“Does he ever actually get the eye?” Ben asked, getting a ‘no’ from Five.

_As Vanya and Leonard were trying to leave the hospital, they were stopped by a nurse, saying that the doctor hadn’t discharged Leonard yet, despite his earlier claims. Before Leonard was allowed to leave, the nurse made him sign voluntary discharge papers._

_While Leonard signed the papers, Vanya asked the nurse about the three guys from the tavern the night before. The nurse told them that only one of the guys were at the hospital and that two of them died._

Luther was conflicted between pointing out that the rest of his siblings were just ignoring the fact that Vanya murdered two people and keeping his mouth shut. And from the look he could practically feel he was getting from Allison, he decided to just keep it to himself for now. They’d definitely have to talk about it later though.

_The scene switched to a hungover Luther being woken up by Klaus and his bell, only to realize the girl from the rave was in his bed, naked._

Luther could feel his cheeks burn, vaguely remembering the morning on screen, while also feeling another glare coming from Allison, only this one was far more angry than annoyed like the first one had been.

Needless to say, Diego and Five had been surprised that Luther had actually slept with someone, much less someone very attractive, his first night experiencing life without Reginald Hargreeves.

_Once Luther, hastily, left his room, Klaus asked Luther what kind of “Mischief.” he’d gotten into the night before, Luther tried to deny anything happening. But when Klaus then suggested asking his, guest, Luther hurriedly closed the door to his room._

_Klaus launched into a, slightly uncomfortable, conversation about how his recent life experience was good for him and the pressure that must’ve been resting on his shoulders. Before realizing, based on Luther’s reaction, that it must’ve been his first time. Saying Luther was going to have to marry the girl now._

“Aw, Luther’s all grown up.” Five deadpanned, getting laughs from Diego, Klaus, and Ben, a shocked look from Allison, and a subdued glare from Luther.

_Klaus told Luther that they were having another family meeting, as they had very important familial matters to address, and sent their brother off with a warning of “No dilly dallying”_

_The scene switched to Klaus pouring himself, a now dressed and quite hungover Luther, an irritated Five, and an unseen Ben cups of coffee before launching into his spiel about conjuring dad, tastefully leaving out the part where he hadn’t actually conjured their father but had fucking died._

_Luther questioned Klaus’s claim to conjuring their father, noting that Klaus hadn’t been able to conjure anyone in years. Klaus countered Luther’s questioning with, “Ah, yes, I know, but I’m sober. Ta-da!” Ben grabbed Klaus’s hand and gave him a comforting squeeze as Klaus continued on screen. “I got clean, yesterday, to talk to someone special, and then ended up having this, conversation with dear old Daddy himself.” Five and Luther, not taking Klaus seriously, started talking about other things before Klaus pulled their attention back._

After watching his brother literally have a conversation in the afterlife with their awful father, Luther felt bad for not taking Klaus seriously.

_“Hey, hey, hey. This is serious, guys, all right?” Klaus said, “This really happened, I swear.” Five asked Klaus what their father told him, still not taking him seriously. “Well, he gave me the usual lecture about my appearance and my failures in life. Yada. Yada. Yada. No surprise there. Even the afterlife couldn’t soften a hardass like Dad, right? But he did mention something about his murder, or lack thereof, because,” Klaus took a pause for dramatic effect as Ben muttered, “Wait for it.” followed by Klaus finishing with, “he killed himself.”_

“Best decision he ever made.” Diego muttered, earning a half-hearted glare from Luther and a laugh from Klaus.

_A beat of silence fell between the four brothers before Luther pushed himself away from the kitchen table, saying he didn’t have time for Klaus’s games._

Again, Luther felt bad for ignoring and not taking Klaus seriously. But he hadn’t known or seen then what he’s seen and knows now.

_Klaus tried to convince a disbelieving Luther that he was telling the truth about their father killing himself, while Five, seeming to be willing to believe Klaus, asked him how their father killed himself. Klaus told them that their father thought it had been the only way to get them all back together._

_Luther, not believing their father would kill himself, started to argue with Klaus when Pogo, thankfully, came in and confirms Klaus’s claims about their father killing himself. Explaining that Pogo himself and Grace ‘helped’ their father enact his plan and how their mother’s programming had been adjusted so she was incapable of giving first aid._

“And when Diego turned Mom off, temporarily, and when Pogo turned her back on, something must’ve reset her first aid capabilities so she could help Five.” Klaus said.

“And Allison.” Luther added.

Yes, and Allison.” Klaus amended.

_The screen rejoined Vanya and Leonard as they returned to the cabin. Once they were inside the cabin, Leonard noticed Vanya acting weird and said, “It’s not your fault, what happened to those guys.”_

_Vanya turned to face him, disbelief heavy in her voice, “You saw what happened. It just surged out of me like a, tidal wave. And it killed them. I killed them.”_

_“You were acting in self-defense.” Leonard reasoned, “You were defending me.”_

_“I shouldn’t be able to do that.” Vanya denied._ The more she watched her sister struggle to accept her powers, after a lifetime of being told she had none, Allison was really hoping she’d be able to undo her rumor on her sister.

_Leonard, not letting Vanya deny herself of her powers, said, “But you can. You have a power, Vanya. You have a gift.”_

_“It’s like with the boat.” Vanya countered, “If I, if I try to do it, I can’t. And if I don’t try, people die. It’s just another thing that I can’t do right.”_

Ben wished his sister had more confidence in herself and talents, but then again, after seeing what’s been happening in her life and growing up under the rule of Reginald Hargreeves, he wasn’t all that surprised.

_Leonard, trying to make Vanya stop questioning and doubting herself, said, “Stop, don’t say that. Don’t. This stuff that’s happening to you, it’s scary. But maybe we can control it. Make it less tidal wave, more ripple. Right?”_

Klaus always felt a little better when the screen would shit away from Leonard’s stupid, manipulative face.

_The scene moved to a line of cars, one of which Hazel and Agnes were sitting in. Hazel grew more and more anxious as they were stuck in the line, knowing the end of the world was around the corner while Agnes was as calm and collected as ever._

Allison still wasn’t understanding why all these scenes with Hazel, Cha-Cha, and Agnes were being included, but she had to admit, the cheerfulness Agnes has and the budding romance between Hazel and Agnes was a nice change of pace between the doom and gloom of the Hargreeves.

_Further up the line, Allison was also waiting in her car, looking about as anxious as Hazel did. As she was waiting in her car, Allison noticed something on the nearby crime scene, the same diner Leonard and Vanya had been at the previous night._

_Allison quickly got out of her car, leaving it in unmoving traffic, and made her way to a sign for the diner that Vanya’s scarf was dangling from. Realizing her sister had been there, Allison moved to ask one of the nearby officers what happened. As he explained, Allison took her sunglasses off and the police officer, Sargent Cheddar, recognized her as Allison Hargreeves the movie star._

Diego scoffed and rolled his eyes as on screen, _Allison convinced the officer that she was researching for a role she had about a small town cop._

_The screen jumped to Diego, still pacing, in his holding cell as Beeman came in and told him that they were transferring him upstate that afternoon. The two talked briefly about Diego’s relationship with Eudora before Beeman shook Diego’s hand before leaving, giving him a key to the cell he was currently locked in._

_The scene moved back to Vanya outside the cabin, practicing her violin. As Vanya practiced, Leonard was shown inside the cabin, reading through a very familiar red journal._

_“June 12th.” Their father’s voice narrated, “A controlled environment has proven ideal for the maximum impact of Number Seven’s powers.” The scene flashback to their father and four year old Vanya as their father’s voice continued, “But in the face of sure, uninvited chaos, she must be trained to locate control in another form.”_

“Baby Vanya is so cute!” Klaus gasped.

Luther and Five were paying extra attention as _their father began training with Vanya. Reginald tapped a tuning fork against a table that had several glasses on it. As the tuning fork’s sound resonated, Vanya concentrated on the noise and the tables and glasses began vibrating as a strong wind swirled around the room, and soon after one of the wine glasses shattered, scaring Vanya out of her concentration. Just as fast as Vanya’s concentration was broken, their father continued the training, telling her to go again._

Five made sure to note that Vanya’s powers weren’t necessarily connected through sound, but instead channeled soundwaves as a medium. He wished their father would’ve kept training with his sister, seeing what other paths her powers could go down other than just sound.

_The scene jumped back to Vanya and Leonard, this time to the two of them surrounded by trees as Leonard tried to get Vanya to control her powers, remembering what had happened the night before, and Vanya called her powers terrifying while Leonard called them extraordinary._

Allison didn’t like Leonard at all, even before seeing all this other shit he pulled, but the way he talked about her sister and sister’s powers made Allison far more uncomfortable than she’s ever felt in most of her life.

_Moving back to Klaus, lying in his bed trying to knit something, as Five came in and told him to get up. Five tried to figure out how their father knew about the apocalypse, since he couldn’t time travel like Five, kind of, could._

_Klaus and Five began moving towards the front door as Diego came running through the house, quickly saying he’d been in jail and changing his clothes before asking his brothers where Luther was and telling them that Allison was in danger._

“What about Vanya?” Allison asked Diego, who was seeming to avoid looking at her, as well as several of her other brothers “She was with him too, or was she not as important as I am Diego?”

“Well, I figured that since she’d been with the guy for a few days and nothing had happened, she’d be fine with him,” Diego sneered before giving Allison a glare, “but since we already knew he had a vendetta against the Umbrella Academy, I guessed you’d be in more danger. So sorry for being concerned.

_The screen briefly switched back to Vanya and Leonard in the woods, now trying to channel Vanya’s powers, before another flashback of four year old Vanya’s training appeared. Reginald’s voice once again narrated the training, “After 12 days of success, Number Seven showed an unexpected resistance to her training.”_

“Well, if you have a four year old do the same thing every day, they’re going to get bored.” Allison mocked; silently wondering if their father ever did any research about parenting or child development, probably not.

_Vanya and their father were doing the same training as seen before, except this time there was a loud thunderstorm outside. This time instead of shattering only one glass, Vanya shattered all of the glasses and cracked their father’s monocle, a trail of blood could be seen on their father’s face._

“Holy shit!” Klaus gasped, as several surprised looks spread throughout the room, “That’s terrifying, no four year old should be able to do that!” There was a beat of silence and a look from Ben before Klaus sighed, “Ah, got it. That’s why dear old dad had the cell/bunker thing.”

“What are you talking about?” Five asked, “What’s this cell/bunker you’re talking about?”

“Shush Five.” Klaus quickly replied, pointing to the screen then avoiding any looks Five was giving him.

_The flashback ended, their father sounding scared as he told Vanya her training was over for now, and the screen returned to Vanya and Leonard in the woods, working on her powers. As they worked on her powers, another wave of power surged around them, but as it did, Vanya struggled to breathe._

“What’s happening?” Allison asked, looking at Five.

Five, at a loss, answered, “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Allison countered, “You’re the one who’s always saying you know everything.”

“I don’t know Allison.” Five repeated, “I wasn’t there. But maybe if you shut up, we could find out.” Luther opened his mouth to defend Allison but Five just told him to “Save it.” before ignoring his siblings.

_Once Leonard helped Vanya calm down enough to stop her powers, he explained, “Your ability is tied to your emotions.” And when Vanya asked him how he knew that Leonard said, “I’m just guessing. Putting it together. But it makes sense. Right? Your brain is constantly taking in stimuli. And for you, when you feel a strong emotion, the sounds around you are somehow converted into energy.” Again, as their training was wrapping up, Vanya seemed scared of her power while Leonard looked excited that his half-baked plan was working._

_The scene jumped to a missing persons flyer for Helen before moving to Luther sitting in the same bar as Klaus, Diego, and Five entered. Diego told Five and Klaus to let him handle Luther, after the two left them, Diego said to Luther, “Look, Dad was wrong to lie to you. To all of us.”_

_“Look, I did my time.” Luther said, “All right? Four years up there, watching and waiting because he said the world needed me. Four years of nothing but soy paste and processed air because I was naive enough to believe that dads don’t lie to their kids. But guess what? The joke’s on me.” Luther took a sip of whatever beer was in his cup as Diego looked over at Klaus and Five before Luther continued, “I’m done. With all of it. With him. With you. With this family.-”_

“Thanks Luther!” Klaus called, not seeing the guilty look on Luther’s face or the angry one on Allison’s.

_“-You wanna save the world, you go right ahead. I’m fine to sit right here and finish my beer and, get my, buzz on.” Luther finished, taking yet another sip of his beer._

_“You want to turn your back on me,” Diego said, “the guys, that’s fine. But Allison deserves better than that.”_

_Not looking from his mug, but obviously listening to Diego, Luther asked, “Allison? What are you talking about?”_

_“Well, we got ahold of Harold Jenkins’ police file.” Diego explained, “Turns out Vanya’s boyfriend is a convicted murderer. Who would’ve saw that coming? A little hard to trust anyone who wears corduroy.”_

_“Wait, so,” Luther asked, “where’s Allison now?”_

_Diego replied, “She decided to go after Harold Jenkins. Alone.”_

_Luther, looking a bit angry, yelled, “You should have led with that!” then stormed out of the bar, Klaus, Diego, and Five following behind him._

“What the hell Luther?” Allison hissed, smacking her brother’s arm.

Luther, either being an actual idiot or trying to avoid an argument with Allison, asked, “What?” 

But at the look Allison was giving him, Luther started to attempt to defend himself and his actions but Allison stopped him. “We’ll talk about this later.”

_The screen moved to a slightly bleeding Cha-Cha arriving at Griddy’s, expecting to find Hazel and Agnes, only to find Agnes’ note about closing Griddy’s. In her anger, Cha-Cha broke the glass door, let herself into Griddy’s, found information on the bird sanctuary the two were heading to, then flipping on the gas burners in the kitchen, lighting a flamingo candle, and left the building. Shortly after she left Griddy’s, the building blew up._

“I told you someone blew up Griddy’s!” Klaus yelled, “Should’ve guessed it was Cha-Cha.”

_The scene jumped back to the hospital, but with the sole surviving guy from the diner, Sergeant Cheddar, and Allison. Sergeant Cheddar asked him about what happened with the attack at the diner, which the man explained, “It was no accident. This guy, hired us to start a fight. He wanted us to rough him up in front of his girlfriend. He paid real good, up front. We got drunk. Took it a little too far. Started to hassle the girl, too. And then, all hell broke loose.”_

“Just when I think I can’t hate this Leonard/Harold guy anymore,” Klaus muttered, “he finds a new way.”

_Allison asked him once he’d finished, “The guy who paid you, what did he look like? Brown hair, light scruff, slight build?” The man said it was a guy that at least looked like Leonard/Harold. Allison pulled the book jacket from Vanya’s book out of her jacket and asked if Vanya was the girlfriend._

“You just carried that around?” Diego scoffed.

Allison rolled her eyes and replied, “No. I thought I might need a picture of Vanya and that was the only one we had on hand at the house.”

_Sergeant Cheddar seemed to realize that Allison was in fact not researching for a role, pulled her aside and asked, “Hey, by any chance, is your movie called Small Town Cop Falls for Hollywood Superstar’s Bullshit?”_

_“I am sorry for misleading you.-” Allison started._

_“I believe the word would be ‘lying’.” Sergeant Cheddar said._

_Allison amended, “I’m sorry I lied. But didn’t know how else to get answers.” Allison held up the book jacket as she said, “This is my sister. And I think the guy that put him in this hospital has her. I have to find her.”_

_Sergeant Cheddar, not playing into the emotional angle Allison was working, said, “I could get fired for just bringing you down here with me.”_

“If he could get fired for it then why’d he do it?” Klaus asked.

“Because he’s an idiot.” Diego replied.

_Allison, getting a bit desperate, pleaded with him, “Please. I think she’s in trouble. I need your help.”_

_Relenting with a sigh, Sergeant Cheddar asked the man if Vanya was the girlfriend, but before he could answer a nurse told Allison and Sergeant Cheddar that the man had more tests and could answer no more questions._

_The screen moved back to Vanya and Leonard at the cabin. Leonard, in an attempt to encourage Vanya to practice more with her powers, said, “Do you realize, what you accomplished today? You accessed a power you just realized you had. You controlled it and you let it fade away safely.” At Vanya’s slight hesitance, Leonard continued, “Vanya, I just hope you realize now, that despite what your family has said to you all these years, is that you are special.”_

Klaus muttered an “Ouch.” while Allison realized why Vanya had reacted so poorly when she’d told her that she was special.

_Vanya, changing the subject, said she needed to practice her violin while Leonard wanted to practice with her powers. “We had a breakthrough today, Vanya. This thing that’s happening to you, it’s important.” Leonard said, trying to get Vanya to practice her powers instead of her violin._

_Shortly, Vanya replied, “So is my music.” Leonard, hearing the annoyance in Vanya’s voice, backed off, followed by Vanya going out to the porch to practice. Leonard got a weird look on his face after Vanya went outside to practice._

“I wonder what that’s about.” Klaus whispered to Ben, who in turn, shrugged.

_The scene switched to Agnes and Hazel pulling into the parking lot of a bed and breakfast. Once he’d stopped the car, Hazel asked, “Can I ask you a weird question? If you only had two days left to live, where would you go?”_

_“Well, that’s a tough one.” Agnes replied, “Um, can I re-materialize there instantly? Or, am I limited by the constraints of modern-day air travel schedules and earthly physics?” As the two continued to talk, Agnes said she’d spend her last day anywhere with Hazel. With his motivation renewed, Hazel left Agnes at the bed and breakfast with the promise to return, saying there was something he had to do first._

“Aww, they’re so cute.” Klaus said, “God, I miss Dave.”

_The screen jumped to Cha-Cha, in her own car, driving to the bed and breakfast Hazel had just left Agnes at._

“Oh no, is Cha-Cha going to kill Agnes?” Klaus asked, getting no certain reply one way or another.

_Meanwhile, Vanya took a break from practicing and reentered the cabin, searching for Leonard, but unable to find him anywhere. Vanya frantically looked through a majority of the cabin looking for him, getting more and more worked up as she was unable to find him._

_When Vanya saw herself in a mirror, another flashback. Reginald and four year old Vanya were shown riding down in an elevator as Vanya asked their father, “Where are we?”_

Five started to ask, “Is this the-”

“Yep.” Diego answered.

_“I’ve made a secret place just for you.” Reginald replied, “None of your siblings get to play there. Would you like to see it?” getting a small nod from Vanya. Their father walked their sister down a hallway, holding onto her shoulder as their father explained to Vanya, “Following the events of the previous weeks, we’re going to try something new, Number Seven.”_

_“It was an accident.” Vanya said, trying to defend herself._

_“I understand.” Their father said, probably lying. He pulled open some double doors, revealing a bunker of some kind with Pogo standing nearby, looking solemn. Their father continued to explain as Pogo opened the bunker door, “You need to remain in a controlled environment. More research is required, to determine whether your behavior can be regulated.”_

_“I’m scared.” Vanya whined._ Klaus wondered how Pogo would still let their father put Vanya in the bunker after hearing the fear and sadness in her little four year old voice, knowing their father had literally no parental or caring bones in his body. Klaus has a few theories that dear old dad is actually an alien, given his seeming lack of any and all emotion, but right now, had no proof.

_Ignoring Vanya’s protest, Reginald pushed Vanya into the bunker and Pogo closed the door behind her. As their father and Pogo left, Vanya looked a heavy mix of sad and scared._

_And in another jump, the scene moved back to Vanya in the cabin, now shaking and hyperventilating, still calling for Leonard. Then she spotted her violin, and as she moved to begin playing, Leonard’s voice was heard, telling her to relax and concentrate. In and around the cabin, a strong wind from Vanya’s powers picked up and swung the chandelier before following the wave through the woods._

_The screen moved back to Allison and Sergeant Cheddar in the hospital, waiting to further question the hospitalized guy from earlier. The two seemed to be talking when the nurse from before asked Sergeant Cheddar, Dale, if he’d seen the man; who now was missing._

“I bet Leonard took him.” Klaus guessed.

“Why do you think that?” Ben asked.

Diego, on the other hand, added, “Makes sense. Tie up any loose ends.” Five nodding in agreement.

_As the nurse moved to alert security in the hospital of the missing man, Allison asked the nurse if Vanya had been there recently, which the nurse told she’d been there that morning with Mr. Peabody. Allison left to find Vanya, despite Dale’s request for her to stay at the hospital, as Dale left to call in the missing man._

_The screen followed Allison’s car driving back to the cabin, then Allison walking up the steps of the cabin, noticing the strong winds blowing around the area. As Allison made her way to the door, she called, “Vanya? Is that you?”_

_Allison walked into the cabin, immediately seeing her sister and saying, “Vanya, there you are. What is going on?”_

_“What are you doing here?” Vanya asked._

_“I came to find you.” Allison answered, “Are you okay?”_

Allison tensed, dreading what was going to happen soon on the screen. It was bad enough living it, she really didn’t want to watch it happen.

_Vanya answered with a hesitant ‘Yeah.’ and Allison continued, “There’s something, weird going on. What’s causing it?”_

_“Me.” Vanya replied._

_“What do you mean, ‘me’?” Allison asked, taking a few steps closer to Vanya._

_Vanya, seeming to grow in confidence, clarified, “I mean, I made those things happen. With my powers. Turns out I’ve had them all this time. It’s weird, huh?”_

_“It’s incredible.” Allison said, hesitancy clear on her face._

_“But?” Vanya asked, seeing the hesitation in her sister._

_Not wanting to stick around in case Leonard came back, Allison asked if they could talk in the car. Vanya asked her why and Allison told her she wasn’t going to want to hear what she needed to say._

_“Well, that’s never stopped you before.” Vanya scoffed._

Klaus couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him at his typically meek sister’s words, earning him a glare from Luther.

_Allison sighed before starting, “Leonard Peabody? His real name is Harold Jenkins.” When Vanya looked confused, Allison closed the gap between the two of them and continued, “Remember when I couldn’t find anything in the library in Leonard? It’s because Leonard Peabody doesn’t exist. Harold Jenkins does.-”_

Allison was wishing she hadn’t been so harsh explaining everything to Vanya, but it wasn’t like her sister had left her with much of a choice.

_“-He was in prison for 12 years. He murdered his father when he was 13.” Allison continued before Vanya interrupted her._

_“This is, insane.” Vanya scoffed, “His dad was an engineer at the-”_

_“I have the police report in the car, Vanya.” Allison countered, “I can show you.” Vanya said she didn’t understand, not believing Allison over Leonard, prompting Allison to continue, “Leonard, Harold, I, I know it doesn’t make any sense, and I know it sounds crazy, but we were in his house.-”_

Five winced at the poor choice of wording Allison had been using when trying to convince Vanya that Leonard was Harold and a very bad person, easily seeing the many ways his sister probably misinterpreted Allison’s well meaning explanation.

_“-He has pictures of all of us with our eyes gouged out.” Allison said, and when Vanya still seemed hesitant to believe Allison, she finished with, “I promise I will tell you everything in the car, but it is not safe.”_

_Vanya, having a difficult time processing what Allison was telling her, stopped Allison from pulling her to the car and sat on one of the various chairs in the cabin, trying to process everything. Allison kneeled next to her and said, “Look, I can’t imagine how hard it is for you to hear this, how you feel right now, but I, I love you, and I, I just wanna be here for you, as your sister.”_

_“There’s just no way.” Vanya sighed, “I love him.-”_ Klaus felt like his heart broke for his sister. Like Allison had just said on screen, none of them could imagine how much it hurt to learn that the person you loved and thought loved you was not who they said they were and, probably, didn’t actually have any feelings for you. _“-This just doesn’t make any sense. And this power, I, I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what to do.”_

_Allison got an odd look on her face, like she’d just remembered something, before saying, “I understand now." Vanya looked up at Allion as a fourth flashback appeared on screen._

_Four year old Vanya was shown lying on a bed in the bunker, groggily sitting up as the door squeaked open, revealing Reginald, Pogo, Grace, carrying a tray, and four year old Allison on the other side._

“Oh no.” Klaus gasped, while most of the Hargreeves could guess why their father had brought Allison there.

_Grace entered first, followed by Allison, then their father, and finally Pogo. Grace gave Vanya a grilled cheese sandwich, as Allison’s voice said, “When we were four, Dad told us you were sick. You had to be isolated. We were so young. None of us knew to question it.-”_

_In the flashback, Grace gave Vanya some very familiar medication before their father told Allison “It’s time, Number Three.”_

_Allison’s voice returned as she narrated, “-But then he asked me to do something I never understood, until now.”_

_While on screen, her four year old self approached her sister and said, “I heard a rumor, you think you’re just ordinary.” Vanya’s eyes clouded over as the rumor took effect._

_“He made me an accomplice.” Allison said, as the flashback faded away and the screen returned to the sisters at the cabin._

_Vanya looked confused and shocked before asking, “You did this to me?”_

_“I didn’t realize-” Allison started._

_“You knew this whole time?” Vanya asked, questioning everything Allison had just said, “That I had powers?”_

_“No, no!” Allison quickly clarified, “I didn’t really understand until I came today, until I saw it.”_

_“Well, now it all makes sense.” Vanya said, “This is why you never wanted me around.” Ignoring Allison’s disagreeance with Vanya’s assumption, Vanya continued, her voice edging closer to hysteria as she continued, “You couldn’t risk me threatening your place in the house, your, your dominance.”_

Allison could feel the tears building as she watched her sister practically breakdown, again. Luther carefully slipped his hand into hers, in an attempt to comfort her.

_“That is not true.” Allison said while Vanya continued, yelling at this point, “You couldn’t handle the fact that Dad might find me special.”_

_“You are special,” Allison yelled back, “with or without powers.” Vanya voiced her disagreement with Allison’s claim while Allison continued, “We have a chance to start over.”_

_Vanya yelled, “You destroyed my life!”_

_“Oh, please, Vanya.” Allison pleaded, “Everything is out in the open. We can move on!”_

“Allison, dear,” Klaus said, “I know you meant well, but that is a hell of a lot easier to say, when you weren’t the one who’s life just got turned upside down.”

_“I’m moving on.” Vanya snapped, “But not with you, with Leonard.”_

_“With Harold, you mean.” Allison challenged._

_“With Leonard!” Vanya yelled, “The only person who has ever loved me for me.” Allison scoffed, believing Vanya was just being overdramatic while Vanya said, with an eerie calm over her now, “Look me in the eye and tell me you’re not threatened now.”_

_“I don’t wanna argue with you.” Allison said._

“Little late for that sis.” Diego mocked.

_“Then go!” Vanya yelled._

_Allison pleaded, again, “I’m only trying to help you.”_

_“I don’t want your help!” Vanya yelled._

Tension and anxiety built through the room as the fight on screen got worse and worse, all of them knowing what was going to happen soon, and dreading it.

_Allison, nearly crying, called, “Vanya, I love you!”_

_“Stop saying that!” Vanya screamed._

_The wind in the cabin had rapidly gotten to be more and more intense, shaking various nicknacks and furniture throughout. Allison, noticing this, asked Vanya, “Are you okay?”_

_Vanya screamed back, “I said go!” Several lightbulbs above exploding soon after, scaring Allison._

_“Please don’t make me do this.” Allison pleaded._

“You didn’t” Ben gasped. Allison grimaced and gave him a short nod.

_Allison started to say, “I heard a rumor-” before Vanya grabbed her violin’s bow and sliced Allison’s unfinished rumor and her neck. There was a second before blood started seeping from Allison’s new wound while Vanya freaked out, realizing what she’d just done._

_As Vanya freaked out and Allison bleed out, Leonard rushed in at the sound of Vanya screaming, before a smile broke out on his face, telling Vanya, “You did what you had to.” Then Leonard realized that they had to go before any of the other Hargreeves, or anyone else, got there. Despite Vanya’s protests, saying she couldn’t just leave her sister to bleed out, Leonard grabbed and forced Vanya out of the cabin._

“Holy shit.” Five breathed, realizing how badly the situation was on all fronts, except fucking Harold’s.

_As their car sped off, the now dead body of the former sole survivor of the diner attack was seen under the porch of the cabin. Meanwhile, Five was driving Klaus, Luther, Diego, and Ben to the cabin, unaware of what had just happened. Luther asked Five if he could drive any faster, which Five replied that if he asked again, that he’d burn him with a cigarette lighter, eliciting a laugh from Klaus._

_Once the brothers arrived to the cabin, Vanya and Leonard long gone, the brother rushed in, only to find Allison bleeding out on the rug and no Vanya or Leonard anywhere._

_The screen faded to black, the words “The End of Episode Eight of Ten: I Heard A Rumor. Up Next, Episode Nine of Ten: Changes.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Guys! Sorry for taking so long with the chapter, I'm hoping to get the episodes done before season 2 comes out. I'm hoping to upload on Saturdays, but we'll see what happens. Thank you so much for reading. Please let me know what you think and if there are any glaring mistakes.
> 
> I'm planning to write some bonus scenes once this is finished, currently including, Allison & Vanya's sleepover, a Klave (Klaus x Dave) scene or two, and what the other siblings were doing during the breaks that weren't included in the fic. If you guys have any ideas please let me know!
> 
> WHO'S HYPE FOR SEASON 2?!?!?!?!?!?!?


	10. Changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Ben watch episode nine, Changes.

Allison silently switched the fourth tape out of the VHS player and put the fifth, and final tape in the box, into the VHS player before settling back into her seat as the screen displayed the text, “Episode Nine of Ten: Changes.”

_The first scene for this episode was in 1993, with Vanya and her nanny in the kitchen. “Your brothers and sister have all finished their oatmeal,” The nanny said, “and begun their training for the day. Don’t you want to join them, Number Seven?”_

“I forgot how much Vanya hated oatmeal.” Klaus said. For some reason Klaus felt like he’d seen that nanny before, recently, but couldn’t quite remember why.

“She would always find ways to avoid eating it.” Ben noted.

Five added, “Or just pretend to eat it, and spit it out in her cup.”

_At Vanya’s lack of a response, the nanny asked, “Is someone having a tough morning?” The sound of a kettle whistling began to fill the room as the nanny continued, “You know what cheers me up when I’m down? Singing.” The nanny began singing some song in french while Vanya was giving her an annoyed look._

_As the singing and the kettle whistling continued to build, louder and louder, Vanya got a bit of a distressed look on her face just before the nanny was flung away, presumably by Vanya using her powers. The nanny crashed into a pile of blocks in the corner, unmoving, as their father walked into the kitchen. “Number Seven!” Their father hissed, and Vanya looked as ashamed as a four year old could._

Allison, although not too surprised, was shocked that their father hadn’t scolded Vanya in someway about killing her nanny, seemingly solely because she didn’t want to eat her oatmeal. But, Reginald Hargreeves did not have a single parenting bone in his body.

Luther was annoyed at the lack of reaction from his siblings at their sister, murdering her nanny, when she was four, with her powers. How did they not see Vanya’s powers as a threat like he did?

_The scene continued with a new nanny, Mrs. Cornwallis, whose fate ended the same as the first. Then another, Ms. Stevenbaker, same thing. Before coming to their mother, Grace. “Hello, Number Seven.” Their mother said, “My name is Grace. I’m your new nanny.”_

Diego was a bit surprised, how had he not known that Mom was made to be Vanya’s nanny, not their mother?

_“Your father tells me you don’t like oatmeal,” Grace continued, “but we need out breakfast to grow up big and strong, and you have to train with the others after you eat. Here, let me help you.” Their mother grabbed a spoonful of oatmeal and offered it to Vanya._

_Predictably, as soon as the kettle began whistling, Vanya’s powers started shaking various things in the room, and not before long Grace was thrown across the room, landing in a heap. Unlike her other nannies, Grace stood back up, her head facing the wrong direction, and walked backwards to the end of the table, across from Vanya._

Not that any of them would ever admit it, but the entire room either screamed or gasped at the disturbing sight of their mother with her head on backwards and walking backwards.

_Grace, arriving at the other end of the table from a very scared Vanya, fixed her head, then Grace gave Vanya another spoon, asking her if they should try again. And, from likely fear, Vanya quickly ate the remainder of her oatmeal, to Grace, Reginald, and Pogo’s delight._

_The screen jumped back to 2019, with Vanya and Leonard arriving at Leonard’s house. Vanya was still sniffling as Leonard said, “We’re safe here for a bit. We can’t stay long.” Vanya stood in the middle of Leonard’s kitchen, almost completely out of it as Leonard moved around the house, gathering whatever they’d need for their get away. “We gotta pack our things.” Leonard continued before seeing Vanya’s state, then suggested they clean her up before they head out._

_Leonard lead Vanya through the house, before the scene jumped to Vanya sitting in Leonard’s bathtub, her knees up to her chest, still unresponsive, while Leonard wiped the dried blood off her hands. “Your family,” he started, “they’ll be coming for us soon. It’s okay. You don’t have to worry. We’re a team now. Take the fight to them.”_

Klaus had seen Vanya in quite a few states of haziness throughout their first childhood, now knowing it was from the stupid pills, but the one on screen was by far the worse he’d ever seen her; maybe even worse than he’d been able to get from any drugs in a long ass time.

_“Why would they be coming for me?” Vanya asked, sounding as if she were in a daze._

_“Vanya,” Leonard said, “you killed Allison.”_

Unsurprisingly, a roar of discontent and disagreement spread throughout the room at Leonard feeding their extremely vulnerable sister yet another lie.

_Vanya immediately denied Leonard’s claim that she’d killed her only sister, saying, “No, I, I lost control. Everything just happened so fast.”_

_“I know.” Leonard said, “I know. It’s not your fault. You were protecting yourself. That’s not how they’ll see it."_ And unfortunately for the Hargreeves brothers, and Vanya, he was right.

_“No. I’ll, I’ll, I’ll explain it to them.” Vanya said, sounding confidant in her delusion of how her brothers would react, “Uh, I, I just need to get to them and I, I need to explain it to them.”_

_Leonard had another idea as he told her, “They wanna hurt you. I’m the only one on your side who understands, just how special, you truly are.-”_

“Anyone else get creeped out when he says ‘special’?” Klaus asked, getting a few nods from his siblings.

_“-I knew it the first time I met you.” Leonard continued, “I see it now as I look at your face. But they don’t see it. They never have. They never will.”_

It really sucked how right he was about most things he’d been telling Vanya in the previous timeline, but that was the reason they were back in their stupid thirteen year old bodies, to fix all the shit they’d fucked up the first time. With Vanya. With each other.

_There was a beat of silence in the room as Leonard continued to wipe the blood off before he told Vanya to “Say it.”_

_“I can’t.” Vanya replied._

_“Say it for me.” Leonard tried._

_After a second Vanya said, “I’m special.” Leonard told her to say it again, and once she did, he told her “Now, that wasn’t so hard.”_

_Leaving Vanya in her, slightly improved, haze, the screen rejoined the rest of the Hargreeves as they sped and returned home. Klaus and Luther carried Allison up to the medical room; where their mother tells the Hargreeves brothers that one of them will need to give blood, which all of them volunteered to._

Allison felt touched that all of her brothers had been willing to help her, by just about any means necessary.

_Unfortunately, Luther and Klaus weren’t eligible blood donors. Luther due to his ‘changed’ physique and Klaus due to his long history with ‘pollutants’ as Pogo called them. Eventually Diego was picked as the donor, despite fainting at the sight of the needle._

Klaus laughed watching Diego, who always acted so tough and strong, pass out at the mere sight of a syringe, earning him a glare from said brother.

_The screen switched to Klaus, tearing his room apart looking for something. Klaus winced, knowing what his past/future self was looking for while Ben was watching Klaus with concern, only being able to guess what was going through his brother’s head. As Klaus looked through his room Ben asked him, “What are you doing?”_

_“Looking for drugs.” Klaus answered._ Klaus could feel the looks he was getting from his siblings, ranging from concerned, Diego, to disappointed, Luther, which he was pointedly ignoring, keeping his eyes glued to the screen.

_Ben sighed, requesting for Klaus to not look for drugs, looking disappointed. Klaus hissed back, “I’m done listening to you! Just go away. Go away, please.”_

Klaus looked at Ben, a guilty look on his face, and opened his mouth to apologize to his brother, but before he could, Ben whispered to him, “It’s okay Klaus, I know you didn’t mean it.” _Back on screen, Ben retorted, “I like the sober you.”_

_“Yeah, well,” Klaus snarked, “sobriety’s overrated.”_

_“Look where it’s gotten you, though.” Ben pleaded._

_“Well, where has it gotten me?” Klaus countered, “Where has it gotten me? Nowhere. I can’t talk to the person I love. People, still don’t take me seriously.”_ Several Hargreeves felt some amount of guilt rush through them at their brother’s words. _“I wanna be numb again.”_

_Klaus returned to his search in a stuffed animal for drugs as Ben accused him with, “You’re a colossal wimp.”_

“Ben!” Allison gasped, shocked that her nicest brother would say such a thing to her, typically, most vulnerable brother.

“It wasn’t serious.” Ben excused, “It was just to get him to stop.”

_As Klaus continued to search, mostly ignoring his brother, Ben snapped at him, “Life isn’t supposed to be easy. Life is hard. Bad things happen. Good people die.”_

_“Wow, playing the dead card again, huh?” Klaus mocked, “You need new material, bro.”_

Diego asked Klaus, “Did he do that a lot?” Getting an exasperated “Yes!” from Klaus and an annoyed “No.” from Ben.

_“I was talking about Dave.” Ben said._

Five wanted to ask Ben if he didn’t consider himself a good person, but figured this wasn’t the time or place. So instead, he made a mental note to ask him later.

_“You know, I’m tired of seeing you wallow in self-defeat.” Ben said._

_“Well, then avert your gaze.” Klaus taunted._

_“You’re better than that.” Ben countered, “And Dave? He knew it, too.”_

_Klaus averted his eyes from Ben’s, sighed, looking at the pills he’d found in his hand and said, “Yeah, you’re right. You’re right. I’m, I’m, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Ben, believing Klaus, turned to leave, likely to check on his other siblings, when Klaus yelled “Psych!” laughing as he dropped the pills into his mouth. And in a rage, Ben whirled around and socked Klaus in the jaw, causing his brother to spit out the pills._

Luther was shocked, he didn’t think Ben of all his siblings would puch Klaus, in the face.

Diego was a mix of annoyed and proud. Annoyed at Klaus for giving in so easily and proud of Ben for giving Klaus the tough love he need to maintain his sobriety.

Allison, like Luther, was shocked, and was getting to be confused if Ben was really as nice as she remembered him being.

And Five, he really didn’t care, whatever was needed to get the job done he approved of.

_Klaus and Ben were equally shocked at what had just happened. Ben had never been able to touch Klaus or anyone else, let alone punch his brother. Klaus told Ben, “You just Patrick Swayzeed me. How did you do that?”_

_“I didn’t.” Ben answered, “You did. I think.”_

_The screen jumped to Diego, Klaus, and Five in the living room, discussing their next plan of action. “The bastard that nearly killed our sister’s still out there, with Vanya. We need to go after her.”_

“I can’t believe you called Vanya a bastard Diego.”

“Shut up Klaus.”

Five, remembering what he’d said in regards to his best friend/sister, tried to hold back a wince Which didn’t matter much, knowing that Allison was going to chew him out later for all the shit he’s said. 

_Five on screen, had a different opinion, “Vanya is not important.”_

“Five!” Allison hissed, sending him a glare that he waved off.

_“Hey, that’s your sister.” Diego scolded, “A little heartless even for you, Five.”_

“Aww, Diego does have a heart.” Klaus mocked, followed by getting nailed in the head with another pen. Where was Diego finding all of these?

_“I’m not saying I don’t care about her,” Five amended, “but if the apocalypse happens today, she dies along with the other seven billion of us.-”_

Klaus laughed at the irony, “Man, if only we knew then what we know now, the whole thing could’ve been avoided.”

_“-Harold Jenkins is our first priority.” Five finished._

_Diego, shortly, replied, “I agree. Let’s go.”_

_While Klaus said from his spot on the couch, “You guys count me out.” getting a surprised look from Diego and a slightly annoyed one from Five, “I mean, you know, no offense or whatever. It’s just, I kind of feel like this is a whole lot of pressure for newly-sober me, so.”_

_“You’re coming.” Diego ordered, not taking any of Klaus’s excuses. And when Klaus repeated that he didn’t want to go, Five ordered him to get up. And when he still didn’t, Diego threw one of his knives near Klaus, intimidating him enough to begrudgingly come with them._

“Can’t you guys go like, five minutes, without threatening or hurting each other?” Allison asked her brothers, only to receive various answers, but a general consensus, of no they couldn’t or wouldn’t.

_The scene switched to Vanya, sitting in Leonard’s kitchen as she waited for him to finish gathering his things. As she sat, Vanya remembered her fight with Allison that had been an hour or two earlier, not being able to suppress her flinch at the memory._

_Vanya, in an effort to calm herself, knocked a bag of Leonard’s off the counter, and pulled the red journal as she picked the bag up. Vanya opened the journal, flipping through it and landing on the entries about her powers, just as she had on The Day That Wasn’t. While Vanya was reading the journal, Leonard saw her with the book and quickly said, “Vanya, I can explain.”_

_“You’ve been manipulating me all this time?” Vanya asked him, hurt and shock heavy in her voice._

_“No, that’s not true.” Leonard denied, “I’m only trying to protect you.”_

_“From who?” Vanya challenged him._

_And Leonard answered, “From your family.” There were several glares thrown at Luther at that, which Five didn’t understand, but had a feeling he would in the next hour or so. “They’re the ones trying to hurt you. Vanya, it’s all there, in that journal. Your father, was afraid of you. That’s why he put you on those pills. It wasn’t to help you. It was to hold you back.” As he talked, Leonard slowly approached Vanya, as non-threateningly as he could, until he was right in front of her, his hands holding her arms, “He didn’t trust that you were strong enough to control your powers.-”_

“Fuck you asshole!” Klaus yelled at the screen.

_“-But I’ve never been afraid of you.” Leonard continued, “I embraced you. I’m the only one who ever accepted you for who you really are. Your brothers and your sister, they went along with him every step of the way.”_

Allison was genuinely worried for a second that her sister was going to believe all the bullshit coming out of Leonard’s mouth until, _Vanya asked, “Who’s Harold Jenkins?”_

_Leonard took a second, doing a pretty good job at hiding his surprise at her knowledge of his real name, before saying, “He’s, someone like us. A lonely boy. An outsider whose family was cruel to him. All he ever wanted was to be heard, to be loved.”_

_“Allison was right.” Vanya said, “You’re sick.”_

_“I’m not the one who tried to kill you.” Leonard sneered._

_Vanya moved towards the door as she said, “I need to go.” but as she moved, Leonard blocked her way._

_“What have they ever done for you? Hm?” Leonard questioned, anger thick in his voice as his plan failed, “I’m the reason that you got first chair!”_

_Vanya, at a loss and a bit scared, muttered, “I auditioned. I earned the spot.”_

_Leonard laughed and, mockingly, said, “You think that the first chair went missing all by herself?”_

_“What did you do?” Vanya asked, fear and a bit of anger evident._

_“I did this for you.” Leonard said. Vanya shoved him away, telling him to stay away from her as he told her, “Vanya, we are in danger. We’re in danger. Your family, they’ve seen you in action. And they know what you’re capable of. They will come for us.”_

_Vanya denied, reasoning, “No, they’ll listen to me.”_

Luther felt like shit. Vanya, his little sister, genuinely believed she’d be able to talk to them and they’d listen to her; but instead, all he did was lock her in the bunker.

_“No, they never will!” Leonard yelled, “They want you to feel small! But they are the small ones, next to you. Compared to them, you are a god! You just needed your eyes opened to see what they really are. I gave that to you. So, let’s finish what we started. Vanya, you need me.”_

_Not believing Leonard’s emotional rollercoaster of a speech, Vanya countered, “What I need is my family. I didn’t, I didn’t mean to kill Allison. And I love her. And I love them.” Vanya was nearly in tears,_ while her siblings were definitely not crying, some far more subtly than others.

_“Your father was right.” Leonard sneered, “Your not strong enough. He knew it. And now I know it.” Leonard smacked the journal as he yelled, “You’re weak!”_

Klaus truly fucking hated this guy. How could someone like that mess with his sister?

_“Stop it.” Vanya ordered, only anger present now._

_“You’re pathetic!” He yelled with another smack to the journal._

Allison had disliked the guy since day one, but after watching everything, especially this last scene, she really hated him.

_Several things in the room began to rattle as Vanya pleaded with him, “Please don’t.”_

_“Look at you.” Leonard continued, “You’re nothing.” followed with another smack._

Five wished he could just jump over to the guy’s, kid now, house and murder him for ever fucking with his best friend. But it would mess up the timeline too much. Stupid Commission. Stupid Harold.

_“No!” Vanya yelled back, more things beginning to shake._

_“You’re just ordinary.” Leonard sneered with a fourth smack._

If there were any Hargreeves that weren’t mad before, they pissed now.

_Vanya yelled, “Stop it!” covering her ears._

_“Less than ordinary!” Leonard yelled, a fifth smack to the journal._

_“Stop it!” Vanya yelled as a ringing in the room grew louder and louder._

_Leonard continued on, oblivious to anything going on around him, “You are not special! Ordinary. Ordinary. Pathetic. Nothing!” as Vanya screamed at him to stop over and over._

_A sudden calm fell over Vanya as she looked Leonard in the eyes, surprising for her siblings she had no white eyes, then slowly she lifted him in the air, choking him as she did. Leonard’s pleas fell on deaf ears as many objects in the dining room behind Leonard circled in the air before Vanya sent several knifes into Leonard. Killing him. Then threw him back onto the dining room table with a crash and left._

“Even though she just fucking murdered that asshole,” Klaus said, “that was totally badass.” 

_The screen switched back to the bed and breakfast Hazel had left Agnes at. Agnes is shown returning to their room after doing some light shopping. As she enters, she hears the toilet flush in the bathroom, and, thinking that Hazel had already returned, called out, “Hey, Hazel! Hey, I wasn’t expecting you back so early. But guess what I got for us-”_

_“Enjoy a free upgrade,” Cha-Cha said, exiting the bathroom and cutting Agnes off, “at the Rain and Quail B and B next door for the purchase of our premium Atrium Pass.” While Cha-Cha was talking, Agnes started to run away, only to trip and fall._

“Why do people always fall when they’re running away from the ‘bad guy’?” Klaus grumbled, “And then they don’t even try getting up. They just accept their fate and stay on the fucking ground.”

_As Cha-Cha approached Agnes she lied, “If you’re here for Hazel, he’s not coming. He left me.”_

_“Sure he did.” Cha-Cha mocked before punching Agnes in the face, knocking her out._

_In a jump, the screen changed to Diego, Five, and Klaus looking at Leonard’s several times impaled corpse lying on the floor. Diego said, “It’s not exactly what I was expecting.”_

_“The understatement of the year.” Five replied._

_“No sign of Vanya.” Klaus said._

_Klaus and Diego started moving toward the front door, Diego saying, “Let’s get out of here, before the cops come.” while Five moved closer to Leonard’s head._

_Five pulled the prosthetic eye out of his pocket and took the bandage off Leonard’s eye socket._

“Five you didn’t.” Allison said, sounding like she was going to be sick.

Klaus, sounding slightly less like he was going to be sick, replied with a terse laugh, “Uh, yes. Yes he did. And it was disgusting.”

_Diego tried to verbally stop Five from whatever he was planning to do with the eye while Klaus watched in awe and disgust, as Five shoved the eye into Leonard’s eye socket, proving the eye to be a perfect match. Then, possibly even more disgustingly, Five pulled the eye back out of the eye socket, wiped it off slightly, and stuck it back into his pocket._

_Klaus started to move towards the front door again, believing they were done at the Jenkins/Peabody residence, only to be pulled back by Diego as Five said, “No, no. Wait, wait. It can’t be this easy.”_

_Five stumbled away from Leonard’s corpse, pulling the note he’d gotten from the Commission out of his other pocket as he said, “Look, this is the note that I got from the Commission. The one that says, ‘Protect Harold Jenkins,’ aka Leonard Peabody. But who killed him? Who did this?”_

_“I have a crazy idea.” Klaus said, “Crazy, but why don’t we find Vanya,” Five jumping away in the midst of his sentence, “and ask her what happened?”_

“That was very rude Five,” Klaus scolded mockingly, getting an eye roll and a middle finger from said brother, “you shouldn’t jump away from people when they’re talking.”

_“If Vanya got away from this asshole, she might be headed back to the Academy.” Diego reasoned, which, he wasn’t wrong._

_The scene rejoined Luther, Allison, Grace, and Pogo just as their mother finished cutting the stitches on Allison’s throat._ Seeing the stitches on her older self, Allison rubbed a hand subconsciously over her throat where the stitches had been. _As Grace began cleaning up the various medical tools, Luther asked, “Is she gonna make it?”_

_“Yes.” Grace answered, “But her vocal cords were badly damaged. It’s a miracle that, somehow, her carotid artery wasn’t severed.”_

_Their mother stuck a bandaid-like tape over the stitches as Luther asked, “Will she be able to talk?”_

_“It’s too early to tell.” Grace answered._

_“More importantly,” Pogo said, “thanks to you and your brothers, she’s still with us.” Pogo took a step closer to Luther, saying, “Grace and I can take it from here, Master Luther. Go. Rest.” as he did._

_And apparently, Pogo’s betrayal of Luther’s trust in regards to the moon and their father’s suicide was still fresh in his mind as he told Pogo, “You’re the last person I would trust here. I’m not going anywhere.” at that, Pogo and Grace silently left Luther alone with Allison._

_The screen switched to Five, Klaus, and Diego searching the house for Vanya, coming up empty as Five said, “No sign of Vanya.”_

_“She’s not in any of the rooms.” Diego said._

_“She’s not downstairs, either.” Klaus added._

“Did any of you guys check her apartment?” Allison asked.

“I didn’t know where it was!” Klaus defended, getting a look from Ben before amending, “Okay, I knew where it was, kind of. But we all kind of figured she’d come back to the Academy.”

“She did come back to the Academy,” Diego said, glaring at Luther as he added, “just a bit later than we thought.”

Five wanted to ask what was all the glaring about, but refrained from doing so. He’d find out sooner or later anyway. Instead he simply said, “I, mistakenly, thought the apocalypse had been averted, and just assumed we’d find her eventually.”

_With their search at an end Diego declared himself out, telling his brothers he was going to settle some unfinished business with Hazel and Cha-Cha._

_Once Diego was gone, off to gather his things, Five and Klaus briefly talked about what their father had told Klaus in his short time being dead, then moved to Klaus asking Five how he controlled his powers, telling Five that their father said something Klaus’s untapped potential. And when Klaus asked Five how exactly he knew how to jump through time, Five bit back, “I didn’t. You’d realize that if you were actually sober.”_

Five ignored the glares he got from his siblings, mainly Ben and Diego, for his past comment about Klaus’s sobriety.

_“Hey, I am sober.” Klaus whined, annoyed that he still wasn’t being taken seriously, “I’ve been sober for two, almost two days now.”_

_“Yeah, two days.” Five mocked while Klaus grumbled, “It feels like 45 years.”_

_“Who are you kidding, Klaus?” Five questioned, “I’ve seen you fidgeting all day.”_

_Klaus, closing the distance between himself and Five, retorting, “Well, I guess we’re both fighting our addictions, then.”_

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Luther asked.

“Just, just watch.” Klaus replied.

_Five denied, “I’m not an addict.”_

Ben, oh so helpfully, told Five “That’s exactly what an addict would say.”

_“Yeah, you are.” Klaus insisted, “You’re addicted to a drug called ‘the apocalypse’.”_

_“You’re wrong.” Five challenged._

_Klaus continued, pointing out, “First sign. Denial.” ___

____

_Klaus turned to walk away from Five, when Five jumps in front of him, declaring, “You and I, we’re not the same.”_

____

_Getting a laugh from Klaus, he replied, “I’ve seen that look, in the eye of someone who doesn't know who they are without their high anymore. Trust me. You just gotta let it go.” Five responded by throwing the prosthetic eye against a nearby wall, shattering it into pieces, before storming away from his brother._

____

_The screen followed Five to the bar where he, with Delores, made some margaritas. Five asked Delores, “Well, do you think we really did it? Think we actually stopped the apocalypse?” Five sipped on his margarita for a moment before asking Delores, “Now what? I don’t know. I’m open to suggestion.” Followed shortly by a knock on the front door._

____

_Five walked, margarita in hand, to open the door._ As much as Allison wanted to scold him, the mom in her coming out, for being so careless about his obvious underage drinking in front of whoever was on the other side of the door, she knew he’d just snark back something, so she decided to just remain silent. _Five opened the door to reveal Hazel, gun pointed at him with the short remark, “Hey old-timer.”_

____

_“Do you have my sister?” Five asked him, “And, if not, would you like a margarita?” Hazel looked a bit confused as Five invited him into the house. Hazel followed Five back into the living room, gun still pointed, where Five asked him, “You’re here to kill me?”_

_____ _

_Hazel, realizing Five was referring to his gun, put said gun away, remarking how it was an old habit before saying, “Well, I can understand why you might feel that way, you know.”_

_____ _

_“Well, you attacked our house, tried to kill my family, and kidnapped my brother.” Five remarked._

_____ _

“Five does care Ben!” Klaus cheered, hugging Ben in somewhat mock joy.

_____ _

_Hazel replied, “Well, there’s not much I can do about the past. Don’t forget, I’m not the only killer in this room. You got your own bloody history, pal. Speaking of which, that job you did in Calhoun, that shit’s legendary.-”_

_____ _

“What was Calhoun?” Diego asked Five.

_____ _

“Can’t remember.” Five answered, “They tend to blend together after a few years.”

_____ _

_“-Can’t believe I’m actually sittin’ here talkin’ to you, after all-” Hazel continued._

_____ _

Klaus, rarely missing an opportunity to make fun of his brothers, mockingly sang, “Five’s got a fan.” earning a glare from Five.

_____ _

_“Hazel why are you here?” Five asked, cutting Hazel off._

_____ _

_“Well,” Hazel answered, “I’m you know-” only to be cut off by Diego sneaking up behind him and kicking him down. Five tried to verbally stop Diego, but his brother was unwilling to listen, instead Hazel and Diego brawled until Diego bit Hazel’s ear, causing Five to smash a glass vase on Diego’s head, knocking him out._

_____ _

_Five and Hazel continued their conversation, now without any interference, touching on Hazel leaving Cha-Cha, quitting the Commission, volunteering to help stop the thought to be stopped apocalypse, and before he left, intending to return to Agnes, he turned his and Cha-Cha’s guns over to Five, in order to clear Diego’s name._

_____ _

_The screen switched to Vanya, in her apartment, listening to her three voicemail messages from the past few days. The first being from Mrs. Kowalski, informing her that Mr. Puddles was missing again. The second was from the Icarus Theater, telling her that the tickets she’d reserved for her siblings were at the box office._

_____ _

_As the third message began, Allison’s message, Vanya pulled the bloodied violin bow out of her case as Allison’s voice told her, “Hey, Vanya, it’s me. I just wanted to, things have gotten so messed up. All I ever wanted was to be a good sister to you. Guess I pretty much failed at that. But you need to call me, okay? I love you, sis.” Once the machine beeped, Vanya nearly instantly broke down in tears, repeating over and over that she was sorry._

_____ _

It was odd, to say the least, and quite discomforting for the siblings to watch their sister break down, alone, and be reduced to nothing but sobs and gasping for air.

_____ _

_The screen left their sister sobbing and returned to Luther and Allison, just Allison was woke up with a gasp. With Allison unable to speak, Luther gave her a notepad and a marker to communicate with. Using the given notepad and marker, Allison wrote ‘VANYA POWERS’. And when Luther couldn’t understand what the short message meant, Pogo stepped out of the shadows and said, “I do. It’s time for the last of your father’s secrets to come to light.”_

_____ _

“I firmly believe this whole apocalypse thing is on Pogo’s shoulders.” Klaus declared.

_____ _

Some slight confusion went through the siblings before Diego asked him, “And, why do you think that Klaus?”

_____ _

“Well, dear brother of mine,” Klaus said, pushing himself out of his chair to pace around the middle of the office, “if he had told us all, or even some of dad’s secrets, just the important ones, like Vanya’s powers, back at dear old dad’s funeral, we could’ve tried to at least help Vanya with her powers instead of stupid Leonard.”

_____ _

Luther said back from his seat, “But Leonard wouldn’t have been able to train Vanya’s powers if you hadn’t thrown out Dad’s journal.”

_____ _

“Yeah, well, Vanya wouldn’t’ve destroyed the Academy if you hadn’t locked her up!” Klaus yelled back.

_____ _

“She was a threat!” Luther yelled.

_____ _

“She’s our sister asshole.” Diego sneered.

_____ _

Five, not caring about his more idiotic brothers’ fighting, said, “Wait. Wait. Wait. What do you mean Luther locked Vanya up?”

_____ _

“It was for the safety of the world!” Luther defended.

_____ _

“That bunker thing,” Ben started, ignoring Luther’s defense, “I don’t know exactly when he did it, maybe when the house shook the first time, probably, but after he did, he brought Klaus and Diego down there and told them about Vanya’s powers.”

_____ _

Five, turning his glare from Luther, partially, to switching between Diego, Luther, and Klaus as he asked, “And why didn’t you two do anything?”

_____ _

“We tried!” Klaus said while Diego rolled his eyes, “It’s not like I was in the best shape, you know withdrawals and all.”

_____ _

Five turned his gaze on Diego, who said, “Klaus, Allison, and I all tried to get Luther to let her out, but he got all ‘I’m Number One.’-”

_____ _

“I am Number One!” Luther yelled, cutting Diego off, “I’m the leader, and you guys are supposed to listen to me.”

_____ _

“Dad may have picked you to be in charge, but that doesn’t mean we have to listen to you.” Five deadpanned, a glare still heavily set on his face, before motioning for Diego to continue.

_____ _

Diego, noticing Five’s motioning continued, “Right, so, Luther got all ‘I’m Number One.’ and wouldn’t even listen to Allison, let alone me or Klaus while we can all see, but not hear, Vanya screaming something, apologies probably, from behind the door.”

_____ _

The only thing Five did was roll his eyes and call his siblings, mostly Luther, “Idiots.” and kept his gaze firmly on the screen, internally anxious about seeing what his siblings had all witnessed in his absence.

_____ _

Another tense silence settled over the room after Five’s remark, and when no one moved to say, or instigate, anything further they all returned their eyes to the screen just as _Diego was waking up with a groan before jumping to his feet, searching for Hazel only to come up empty, said man long gone. Diego, noticing Five still there and Hazel gone, asked his brother, “Where is he?”_

_____ _

_“I let him go.” Five answered._

_____ _

_“You what?” Diego questioned, approaching his brother at the bar._

_____ _

_“Now that the apocalypse is over,” Five replied, “it’s time for the fighting to stop.” Diego, obviously disagreeing with Five’s sentiment, began to grab any of his knives lying around, ready to charge after Hazel as Five tried to reason with is brother, “Hey, he didn’t kill Patch. His partner Cha-Cha did.”_

_____ _

_“So what?” Diego snapped, “They were both there that night.”_

_____ _

_“Well, this half if the partnership gave me both of their guns.” Five explained, “Which will clear you, because the ballistics will match Patch’s crime scene. Hazel came here looking for a way out. He wanted a fresh start. And he happened to have in his possession the one thing that could do our family a little good. So it’s time to move on.”_

_____ _

_Diego on the other hand still disagreed and hissed, “Not a chance.” As Five moved to leave, collecting Delores before he did, he asked Diego what it was that he’d liked about Eudora. Diego answered “A lot of things. Cute butt. Nice legs.” And when Five pushed for something a bit more profound, Diego added, “She believed in people. No matter how much shit and filth she saw on the streets. She always saw the good inside.”_

_____ _

_And at that, Five, and Delores, left him with the parting message of how honoring Patch’s memory with murder may not be what she’d want from Diego._

_____ _

_The screen switched to the front of the Academy as Vanya finally returned to the Academy._

_____ _

“Oh shit,” Klaus muttered under his breath, “here we go.”

_____ _

_Vanya carefully made her way into the Academy, looking unsure of where to go when Luther, probably hearing the front doors opening and closing, appeared on the second floor balcony._

_____ _

_“Is Allison-” Vanya started, sounding near tears again._

_____ _

_“She survived.” Luther answered, a coldness heavy in his voice. Luther made his way down the stairs, asking “What happened?” once he reached the bottom._

_____ _

_“We got in an argument.” Vanya explained, “And things got out of control. I didn’t mean to hurt her. Please, you have to believe me.”_

_____ _

_“I do.” Luther assured, the coldness still present in his voice, and when Vanya fully finished her explanation of what happened, Vanya asked if she could see Allison, which Luther denied, saying “She’s resting now. Maybe later.”_

_____ _

“This is so tense, knowing what happens.” Klaus said.

_____ _

“Vaguely.” Ben added.

_____ _

“Vaguely.” Klaus agreed.

_____ _

_Luther, after telling Vanya that she could wait there to see Allison, telling her that it was her home, opened his arms for a hug and Vanya, unaware of hat was to come, walked into them, breaking down into tears as she did; only to be met with Luther squeezing the air out of her lungs, Vanya telling Luther that he was hurting her, before he finally knocked her out as the house shook around them. With Vanya now knocked out, Luther picked her up and walked off screen._

_____ _

“What the hell Luther?!” Allison screamed at him, hitting his arm repeatedly as she yelled at him, “How could you do that?” Luther started to try and explain but Allison silenced him, harshly biting at him, “You know what? I don’t want to know right now. But don’t you forget, we’re talking about this later.” And at that Allison moved from sitting next to Luther to the opposite side of the room, near Diego and Five.

_____ _

_The screen jumped to Vanya, startling awake from the floor of the bunker, Diego, Klaus, Luther, and probably Ben, watching her from the other side of the glass. As Vanya scrambled up, she kept muttering “No.” over and over, beginning to hyperventilate, before spotting her brothers on the other side of the door._

_____ _

_After running up to the door, Vanya started banging on it, screaming for her brothers to let her out, while on their side, she was silent._

_____ _

_“You locked up our sister because you think she has powers.” Diego said, keeping his eyes on the door, seeming to not believe the words coming out of his mouth. Meanwhile Klaus had a sad and sympathetic look in his eyes as he watched Vanya, likely remembering his own imprisonment in the mausoleum._

_____ _

_“No, I know she does.” Luther argued, “Pogo told me.-”_

_____ _

“You sound like a toddler.” Five mocked.

_____ _

_“-He’s always known, and so did Dad.” Luther added._

_____ _

_Diego, still in disbelief or maybe shock, asked, “Why would they hide this from us? I mean, am I the only one that didn’t know this place existed?”_

_____ _

_“He hid so much from us.” Klaus sighed._

_____ _

_“He hid it because he was afraid,” Luther explained, “of her.”_

_____ _

_Klaus immediately scoffed, “Oh, that’s ridiculous.”_

_____ _

_“Is it?” Luther questioned, “I mean, Dad’s lied about everything else, why is this so far-fetched?”_

_____ _

_“Well, if you’re right, then maybe she’s the one that killed Peabody.” Diego said._

_____ _

“Right on the mark Diego.” Klaus said, but with what was happening on screen, his voice was lacking the typical mirth it had.

_____ _

_“And cut Allison’s throat.” Luther added._

_____ _

_“Whoa, no.” Klaus argued, “Let’s, I just. Sorry, just, let’s go back, all right? This is Vanya we’re talking about. Our sister. The one who always cried when we stepped on ants as kids.”_

_____ _

_Luther, annoyance and coldness creeping into his voice, tried to reason with his brothers, “Yeah, I know. I know it’s difficult to accept-”_

_____ _

_“It’s not difficult to accept,” Klaus yelled, cutting Luther off, “it’s impossible to accept.”_

_____ _

_“No, he’s right.” Diego agreed, both Klaus and Diego turning to look at Luther, “Look, we can’t keep her locked up without proof.”_

_____ _

_Luther, confused by his brothers’ unwillingness to believe him, asked, “Wh, what more proof do you need?”_

_____ _

Throughout the entire scene, there were several glares, eye rolls, and scoffs between the siblings, yet no one said a word throughout most of the scene.

_____ _

_Klaus suggested, “Why don’t we just open the door and ask her?”_

_____ _

_As Klaus took a single step toward the door, Luther pulled his shoulder, and him, back, ordering, “No, she’s not going anywhere.”_

_____ _

_“No, even if you’re right, she needs our help,” Diego argued looking between Luther and Vanya, “and we can’t do that if she’s locked in a cage.”_

_____ _

_“Yeah,” Klaus jumped in, “and for all we know, she might be struggling with this new power.-”_

_____ _

“When did you get so wise?” Diego asked.

_____ _

Klaus answered back, “Experience.”

_____ _

_“-I mean, it must be scary.” Klaus continued, “Terrifying, really, to discover that you can do something that you never thought you could do.”_

_____ _

_“Look, if what Pogo told me is even half true,” Luther insisted, ignoring what Klaus had just said, “then she is not just a danger to us.”_

_____ _

_Footsteps were faintly heard making their way down the hallway behind the brothers. Luther, Diego, Klaus, and Vanya all looked towards their sister while Allison looked at first confused, then after he spotted Vanya in the bunker, she looked pissed._

_____ _

_Luther, all tension and focus on the previous argument lost in favor of concern for Allison’s health, said with a sigh, “Allison, what are you doing down here? You should be in bed.” Allison wrote on her notepad for a moment before showing the present siblings her message of ‘LET HER GO’ which Luther replied, “I can’t do that. She hurt you.”_

_____ _

“On accident!” Klaus yelled, “She told you that!”

_____ _

_Allison wrote another message on her notepad ‘MY FAULT’. “I’m sorry, but she’s staying put.” Luther said, not changing his stance despite three of his siblings telling him to let their sister out. Allison shook her head and started to move towards the door but Luther stopped her, much more carefully than he had been with Klaus moments earlier._

_____ _

_Klaus, Diego, Luther, and Allison, supported by Luther, most of them unwillingly, left Vanya sobbing out more apologies in the bunker as they returned upstairs, leaving her alone, again._

_____ _

Allison felt an unrivaled rage towards Luther, something she’d rarely felt towards him before, as she watch her only sister reduced to nothing but sobs, screaming out apologies for an accident and pleas not to be left alone again. Allison was certain her relationship with Luther wouldn’t and couldn’t be the same after this, not when he was willing to abandon their sister, leaving her locked up like they had done to the criminals and villains of their superhero childhood.

_____ _

Five, also simmering with rage, couldn’t believe that he was stuck with these idiots, some worse than others, to try and stop the apocalypse that his best friend is supposed to cause. He was trying to figure out a way to cause Vanya to remember everything from the future without bringing forth the apocalypse 18 years earlier while also not disrupting the timeline so much that the Commission would be alerted to their presence.

_____ _

Regardless of what any of his siblings had to say, Luther still believes he made the best decision he could given the information he had. But, now that he’s seen his sister breakdown in tears multiple times all alone, partially because of him, Luther regretted leaving Vanya in the bunker without telling her in anyway that it was only temporary; only until they found a better solution.

_____ _

Klaus could, unfortunately, relate quite heavily with Vanya on the whole ‘being locked away in a place that caused a fuck ton of childhood trauma by someone you’re supposed to be able to trust, while your siblings, knowingly or not, let you be left there to loose your goddamn mind’ thing. The one big thing Klaus regretted from the previous timeline, specifically that day, was not fighting Luther harder to get Vanya out, or for not sneaking back after Luther holed himself up with Allison and just letting Vanya out then, maybe then the entire apocalypse could’ve been avoided. But as they say, hindsight is 20/20.

_____ _

Much like his brother and sister, Diego felt himself allow himself to be filled with rage, but not at the situation like Five or at Luther like Allison. Okay a bit at Luther, but he was always a bit vengeful in regards to Luther. No, Diego was fucking pissed at himself. How could he just give up and give in that easily? For all the shit he gave Klaus about giving into temptation and all that bullshit, Klaus had a hell of a lot more balls than he had. At Klaus fucking made an attempt to get their sister freed. Diego just stood there. Hell, even Allison, still weak from her injuries, made several attempts to get passed Luther. And what had he done? Nothing. Fucking nothing.

_____ _

Ben was a mix of worry and anger. Of course he was angry that his brother locked away his sister, despite his other siblings’ protests, but more so that he’d been just as helpless as he’d ever been in every situation Klaus had been in that he needed help. And as much as he was angry, Ben was also worried, both for his sister on screen, who seemed to be on the brink of a complete and total mental breakdown, but for his brother sitting next to him that had been super fucking tensed almost the entire time Vanya was shown being locked in the bunker. And from spending so much time from Klaus in his drug/alcohol-addled states, when his brother’s vicious nightmares and waking terrors would cause him to let a few too many traumatic words slip out from between his lips, Ben knew about and forced Klaus to talk briefly about his times spent in the mausoleum, and cemetery before that, throughout his youth, from roughly 10 ‘til he left the Academy shortly following Ben’s death.

_____ _

_Thankfully, the screen jumped to Hazel returning to Agnes, and unknowingly Cha-Cha, at the bed and breakfast. When Hazel entered his and Agnes’s room, he was greeted with Agnes, tied to a chair, teetering on the edge of the hot tub in the room, the only thing keeping her from falling in was a rope that Cha-Cha was holding. As the smile fell from Hazel’s face, Cha-Cha told him “I told you I was gonna make you watch your girlfriend die.”_

_____ _

_“Okay, Cha-Cha.” Hazel started, slowly approaching his girlfriend and ex-partner, “Let her go. You can kill me however you want.”_

_____ _

_“Oh, I intend to do that as well.” Cha-Cha remarked, “Right after I make you watch her die.” At that, Cha-Cha moved to pull the rope, intending to tip Agnes towards the boiling water as Hazel screamed “No!” before pulling Cha-Cha away from the rope, and more importantly Agnes, before the two had a brawl while Agnes pleaded for the two to stop._

_____ _

_Eventually Cha-Cha got the upperhand, and made her way back to the rope, this time pulling the rope as Agnes and Hazel screamed. And as Agnes fell, time slowed._

_____ _

“Fuck, seriously?” Five muttered, because of course The Handler had to make a reappearance.

_____ _

_Time froze around Hazel and Cha-Cha, saving Agnes just inches away from boiling to death. The door to the room creaked open, The Handler stepping through with an annoyed expression and greeting message “Well, you two idiots have certainly screwed things up.”_

_____ _

_The screen jumped to Luther helping Allison into her room, Allison still trying to push Luther off of her. “Allison, please.” Luther begged while Allison refused to acknowledge him, “Look, I had to do it.” and when Luther put his hand on Allison’s shoulder, she pushed it off without a glance in his direction._

_____ _

_Jumping down to the kitchen with Diego and Grace, while Diego was sitting at the table in silence, their mother brought him a plate of smiley-faced pancakes with a smile._

_____ _

_Moving back upstairs, Klaus and, an at first unseen, Ben are shown trying to be able to touch each other, and repeatedly failing._

_____ _

_Switching briefly back to the basement with Vanya, still having a breakdown, curled into a ball in the middle of the room on the floor, before the scene jumped to Five, once more walking through Gimble Brothers, Delores strapped to his back._

_____ _

Five felt his stomach drop as he realized he’d have to watch himself say good-bye to Delores, again. It was bad enough the first time. And to make it worse, his stupid sibling would see it too.

_____ _

_Five carefully took Delores out of the bag he’d been carrying her in, placing her back onto the displays where he’d found her again. “Hey.” Five said to her, “I bet it feels good to be back, amongst your friends. And it’s okay, you can say it. We always were an unlikely pair. This isn’t easy for me, Delores, and I, I want you to know that I cherish every single minute I ever shared with you, all 23 and a half million of them. A lifetime. Now look at us. We’re lucky enough, we get a second one.”_

_____ _

_Delores must’ve ‘said’ something to Five because he gave a short laugh before agreeing, “Yeah. You’re right. I do have a lot of growing up to do.” An oddly emotional expression crossed Five’s features for Five as he said, “I’ll never forget you, Delores.” As Five moved to leave, grabbing his bag as he left Delores, he spotted a nearby worker and told her to get Delores something nice to wear, adding that she liked sequins, thoroughly confusing the poor retail worker._

_____ _

Five let out a silent sigh of relief when none of his siblings said anything or gave him any looks that implied they wanted him to talk about what had just happened on screen. Although that feeling didn’t last long as the screen switched back to his locked away, traumatized, and terrified best friend.

_____ _

_The screen rejoined Vanya in the bunker, once again throwing herself against the door in an effort to escape, and failing. In Vanya’s reflection on the glass of the door, the 13 year old version of Vanya was shown, telling her older self, “They’re still afraid of us.” startling their sister as her younger counterpart continued, “Even after all these years. Afraid of our power.”_

_____ _

“Holy shit.” Klaus gasped, wondering how fucked up Vanya would be, and will be, when she inevitably remembers everything that had happened. Because, despite his lack of knowledge on human psychology, he had a feeling talking to your reflection, a younger version of yourself, in the midst of breakdown while being imprisoned by your asshole, but kind of well meaning, brother and abandoned by you siblings, couldn’t be a good, or healthy, thing.

_____ _

_Vanya, denied what her younger self was saying, telling her, “You’re not real.”_

_____ _

_“We killed Leonard.” Younger Vanya reminded her._

_____ _

_“Because he lied to us.” Vanya reasoned._

_____ _

_Younger Vanya added, “Not about everything.”_

_____ _

_“What are you talking about?” Vanya asked._

_____ _

_“You know.” Younger Vanya said, “You’ve always known. Our brothers and sister, they’re just like Dad, driven to keep us down, a muted voice, isolated from the group, never in the limelight, never the center of attention.” As the younger version of Vanya spoke, more and more aggression and bitterness seeped through her voice, “It will never end. Not until we act.”_

_____ _

Several Hargreeves disagreed with what the deluded, younger version of their sister was telling their actual sister, but none of them voiced anything.

_____ _

_“But they’re our family.” Vanya said, shocked at what the other version of her was saying._

_____ _

_“They fear you now.” her younger self replied, “They’re gonna keep you in here forever.” Vanya started to whimper out “No.” as her younger self continued, “Do you remember what that was like? Staring at these gray walls, hour after hour, day after day while they played together? Do you want to live like this for the rest of our lives?”_

_____ _

_When fear and panic set into Vanya, she found herself, once again, struggling to get air. And when her younger self told her “Then do something about it. Embrace who we are. Who we’ve been all along.” Vanya looked back at the glass, only to find her younger self gone, staring at her own reflection as her heartbeat began beating faster and growing louder._

_____ _

_Harnessing the power of her own heartbeat, Vanya used the energy her powers were creating to blast the wall of the bunker off with a squeal, effectively freeing herself, now adorned with her terrifying white eyes. Meanwhile upstairs, Luther and Allison hear the crash of the metal wall as Luther realizes Vanya has broken out._

_____ _

_The screen faded to black before the words “The End of Episode Nine of Ten: Changes. Up Next, Episode Ten of Ten: The White Violin.” appeared on screen._

_____ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Only one more episode left. Please let me know what you thought!
> 
> As always, please let me know if there are any glaring mistakes in this, I'm usually getting my writing done at like 1 or 2 am so...
> 
> One of the scenes I was most excited about writing was Five finding out about Vanya's imprisonment because, if you're like I was reading a million fix-it fics of Five just being like "Fuck you Luther, not happening." after season 1, I have a feeling Five wouldn't stand for his best friend, former or not, being locked away because she couldn't control her powers. And by using his logic, I also feel like Five would realize how badly the imprisonment of an emotional Vanya could end up being for the apocalypse; but since he wasn't there Five just has to yell at hi sibling(s) for being complete fucking idiots.
> 
> ALSO, before any Luther stans get mad at me for how he acts in regards to Vanya's imprisonment, let me explain. I personally believe, that with all the lies, secrets, betrayals, and the like that happened during the first season, I think Luther would be in a bit of denial about how any of his actions may be perceived as wrong. And in my opinion, mostly because Vanya is my fav, several things he did in the last two episodes in regards to Vanya and her powers were wrong.
> 
> Sorry for the rants there, again I hope you enjoyed! 13 days (as of posting) 'til season 2!


	11. The White Violin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Ben watch the final episode of season one, The White Violin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is like, a day late but... I was busy so, it's also done! Enjoy!

The room stayed a tense silence as the tape rolled over from the ninth ‘episode’ to the tenth ‘episode’ as the word on screen switched to _“Episode Ten of Ten: The White Violin.” This episode, instead of starting with any of the siblings like they typically did, this episode started with a younger version of their father with a woman on a bed. With the text “Long ago…” appearing at the bottom._

_Their father brought the woman a violin case, probably containing a very familiar violin. “Reggie.” The woman said as their father approached the bed, “Don’t you look dapper?”_

“You think that’s Vanya’s violin?” Klaus whispered to Ben.

And Ben whispered back, “Probably.”

_“Well, I thought it was right to buy something special for the occasion.” Reginald said, clicking open the case to reveal a much newer looking version of Vanya’s violin, pulling said violin out of the case “As you requested. I didn’t realize that you felt up you playing.”_

_“I don’t.” The woman told him, “I want you to take it with you.”_

_Reginald, unwillingly told her, “No, my love.”_

_“Please.” She pleaded, “Find someone, who’ll love it as much as I have.”_

_“I can’t leave you.” Reginald said, sounding oddly sad for their father, “There must be another way.”_

_“There isn’t.” The woman sighed, stroking their father’s cheek, “I will die here, but you won’t. I won’t allow it. The world needs you, Reggie. Now go.” Their father, surprisingly, submits to the woman’s request; and with the press of a kiss to her hand, Reginald, still carrying the violin, walked towards a window, grabbing a jar from a nearby table, and opens the jar outside the window, releasing whatever the jar held into the world as it floated away._

Klaus really hated the fact that whoever edited or filmed this ‘show’ had to add a stupid redemption arc bullshit thing for their asshole of a father. He was not a good person, alien, whatever, not by a long shot, and that stupid scene was making Klaus feel a little bad for their shitty, abusive dad.

_The scene switched to their father in a line to board a boat, carrying the violin case and two other bags. The inspector running customs asked their father for his name, to which he replied, “Reginald Hargreeves” like it was supposed to be a surprise or a plot twist or something. Their father, now past customs, walked toward a building that made umbrellas, presumably he had bought the building as he set his belongings into it._

Klaus, unable and unwilling to leave his question unasked, asked his siblings, “Was that umbrella factory, business, thing, the first part of the academy?”

“Maybe.” Allison agreed, “It would make sense why he called us The Umbrella Academy then.”

_The screen jumped back to Vanya, breaking herself out of the bunker, while the word “Today” was at the bottom of the screen. Vanya, white-eyed, walked from the destroyed bunker to the elevator at the other end of the hall._

_Upstairs, the entire Academy violently shakes as Vanya’s rage consumes any and all control of her powers. Luther and Allison are shown trying to avoid any of the falling rubble from the ceiling before the screen jumps to Diego asks Pogo “What the hell is going on?”_

“That’s not very nice Diego.”

“Klaus, shut up.”

_Klaus, jumping out of his own room asked, “Are those explosions coming from-”_

_“Vanya.” Pogo answered, “We need to get to safety outside the Academy.” Diego and Klaus ran off to get their mother while Pogo told Allison and Luther to get out of the academy, now._

_Back in the elevator, the lights fade in and out, showing the four and thirteen year old Vanya’s they’d been shown before standing next to Vanya in the elevator._

“This is getting freaky.” Klaus noted, before muttering to himself, “And I thought I was the weird one.”

_As Vanya walks through the house, she looks in each of their childhood bedrooms and is reminded of the various times they hadn’t been the best, or even good, siblings to their sister. “To go on a mission, Vanya,” Ben said while he and Klaus were getting ready for a mission, “you have to have a power.” Vanya walked out of the room and the room soon after exploded._

Ben winced, he couldn’t even remember saying that to Vanya, but obviously she did. God he was a horrible brother.

_Vanya opened another door, Diego’s room. “Vanya!” Diego snapped at her, “What do you want?” She left his room, and it too, blew up._

Diego, like Ben, winced. But unlike Ben, he could remember the exact day he’d said that to Vanya. He pissed off because of training, mostly because of their father and Luther, and he took it out on Vanya. And worst of all, he relished in the pained and saddened his sister had had after that.

_Moving to her sister’s room, Vanya pushed open the door to reveal Allison and Luther sitting quite close to each other on Allison’s bed, whispering to each other. And upon realizing that Vanya was there, Luther scrambled towards the door while Allison yelled at Vanya to “Just get out!” This time when Vanya left, both Allison and Luther’s rooms exploded._

Luther remembered when Vanya walked in on him and Allison, he was so worried that Vanya was going to tell their father, already having gotten in trouble on the roof a few weeks earlier, that he hadn’t even considered what his sister might’ve been thinking or feeling. Maybe he was a pretty shit leader.

Allison felt nothing but guilt as the scene played. Vanya had come to ask her a question about something Allison had said to her earlier that day, admittedly something pretty mean, and all her sister got was yelled at and rejected, again.

After seeing his other sibling’s get dragged by Vanya, Five was a bit worried what his memory would be. Honestly he couldn’t remember any specifics of times he’d spent with Vanya before he got trapped in the apocalypse. But it didn’t come.

_Instead, the scene jumped to Diego and Klaus searching for their mother, unable to find her, before some rubble fell from the ceiling, knocking Klaus and Diego to the floor disoriented. Both brothers unable to move yet as more ceiling was about to crash onto them before Ben pulled the two out of the way. Diego, believing Klaus had saved him not Ben._

“Thanks Ben.” Klaus said to his brother, Diego soon after also thanked Ben, a bit more sincerely.

_Klaus helped Diego out of the house, Ben trailing behind them, as more and more rubble fell. The screen moved back to Vanya as she entered the living room while Reginald’s voice ordered The Academy to “Stand up straight. Every one of you.”_

Several winces and sharp inhales spread through the room as they all remembered the shit that was going to be shown to them, despite none of them wanting to relieve it.

_“Dad?” Thirteen year old Vanya asked, “You forgot me.”_

_“I did not.” Their father replied, not sparing a glance towards their sister, none of them did. The only person that had was Five, even if only for a brief second. “No smiles,” Their father ordered, “eyes ahead. Quickly, now.”_

_“Dad!” Thirteen year old Vanya tried, over and over, “Dad! Dad!”_

Would it seriously kill their father to at least look at their sister? Acknowledge her presence? Or would be treating her with minimal human decency be too much for his stupid belittlement and self-doubt plan? Klaus wondered, because if it did, it was a stupid ass plan. It was by the way. In case you hadn’t figured it out.

_“No talking!” Reginald ordered, the room beginning to shake violently from Vanya’s powers in the present, “Stand still.”_

_As the room crumbled around Vanya, Pogo said, “Miss Vanya.” pulling their sister’s attention, “That’s quite enough!”_

Five knew Vanya was going to kill Pogo, Luther having told them as much, but if this was how Pogo thought he’d stop Vanya, he might be dumber than Five’s siblings, on a bad day.

_Vanya, eyes once again brown, walked towards a nervous Pogo as he said, “Miss Vanya, I understand how upset you are. But I can assure you, that none of your siblings bear any responsibility for what happened to you as a child.”_

_“Did you know?” Vanya asked him._

“Pretty sure you know the answer to that Vanya.” Five said, rolling his eyes.

Klaus could understand why she was asking though. She needed closer of some kind, and maybe that was how she thought she’d get it. Damn. Maybe he should go to college, be a psychologist or something. But only for kids, because adults suck ass.

_Pogo started, “Your father discovered, that you were capable of great things. Much like your brothers and sister. But your powers were, too great.-”_

“That’s bullshit and you know it Pogo! It’s only because he was scared of her!” Allison yelled at the screen, before realizing what she’d just done, muttering a quiet “Sorry.”

_“-He only wanted to protect you from yourself.” Pogo continued, “As well as your siblings.”_

_Pogo could see Allison and Luther still on the balcony upstairs as Vanya asked him again, “Did, you know?”_

_“Yes, Miss Vanya.” Pogo said with a solemn nod, “I knew.”_

_Vanya turned her gaze from Pogo to the ground and back again, her eyes once again white, as the room instantly began to crumble around them before Vanya lifted Pogo in the air and threw him across the room, impaling him on some antlers, killing him._

Once again, gasps, winces, and flinches spread throughout the room as they watch Pogo be impaled on the antlers, for Allison and Luther, for a second time.

_Klaus barely was able to pull Diego away from some rubble falling outside of the house, a few seconds later Diego, Klaus, and Ben saw Mom waving goodbye from the window of one of the rooms, looking quite sad, Diego fighting Klaus to try and rescue her, just before the Academy came down completely._

_The screen jumped to Vanya, walking out the front door of the Academy unscathed, rubble falling around her, just before the building completely collapsed behind her._

_The screen jumped to a black screen as Diego’s voice could be heard yelling “Mom!” before the scene moved Diego trying, frantically, to search for their mother in the rubble before Klaus, after sharing a look with Ben, gently pulled his brother away from his fruitless search._

Diego felt like there was a rock in his stomach. Much like with Eudora, Diego wished to whatever God there was, apparently who was a little girl, that he’d never have to see his mother die, or find Eudora dead, ever again. Even if it was on some stupid screen.

_After Klaus stopped him from searching for their mother, Diego asked Klaus, “What do you wanna do? You wanna, wanna, walk away from this? What about Pogo?”_

_“He didn’t make it.” Luther told his three brothers, walking through the rubble with Allison towards them, “Vanya killed him.”_

_While the Hargreeves were trying to possess the death of their mother and Pogo, Five clambered over the mounds of rubble, yelling “Guys!” as he did, “This is it. The apocalypse is still on. The world ends today.”_

“God,” Klaus sighed, “who left us in charge of saving the world?”

“Dad?” Luther guessed.

“Five?” Diego suggested, getting a glare from Five.

“Well whoever did, clearly doesn’t know what their doing.” Klaus continued, ignoring his brothers’ antics, “We are clearly unqualified!” Klaus shouted, waving his arms at the screen.

_“I thought you said it was over.” Luther said._

_Five, holding a newspaper, admitted, “I was wrong, okay?-”_

“Five admitted he was wrong!” Klaus gasped, “Ben, make note of this, on March 31st, 2019, in the ‘other’ timeline, Number Five ‘The Boy’ Hargreeves admitted he was wrong.” Klaus then got pelted with another pen, for once from Five instead of Diego.

_“-This newspaper, I found it in the future the day I got stuck.-” Five continued._

“You know Five, maybe basing the Apocalypse being on or off solely on a newspaper, is the best idea.” Ben told his brother, a smirk on his face. Five, shifting his glare from Klaus to Ben.

_“-The headline hasn’t changed.” Five finished._

_“No,” Diego denied, shaking his head as he said, “that doesn’t mean anything. The time could’ve been altered since that newspaper came out this morning.”_

_Five, annoyed at Diego’s disbelief, hissed, “You’re not listening to me. When I found it, I assumed this place came down along with everything else. But here we are. The Moon’s still shining, the Earth is in one piece, but not the Academy.”_

“I have feeling that’s supposed to be poetic or something.” Klaus said, “Because of Luther’s whole thing with the moon-”

“It’s not a thing!” Luther hissed, “I was on the moon for four years, because Dad lied!”

“-Anyway,” Klaus continued, “The Academy is prolly us, the Moon is the future or some shit, and the Earth is everyone else. Because we fucked everything up.”

“What does that even mean Klaus?” Diego asked.

Klaus laughed and said, “I have no fucking clue.”

_Klaus ripped the newspaper away from Five, saying he didn’t understand, causing Five to hiss, “Then listen to me, you idiot! Vanya destroys the Academy before the apocalypse. I thought Harold Jenkins was the cause, but he was the fuse. Vanya is the bomb. Vanya causes the apocalypse.”_

_Helicopter whirled overhead, likely due to the Academy suddenly collapsing, as Luther said, “We have to find her.” before the six scattered, planning to meet back up at the Super Star bowling alley._

_The scene switched back to The Handler, chastising Hazel and Cha-Cha, “Look at the two of you,” She said, “Given a one-day assignment to eliminate Number Five, and instead, you kill a tow truck driver, a cleaning lady, and a cop,-”,_ Diego grimacing at the mentioning of Eudora, _“-burn down two buildings, and bring unwanted attention on yourselves and the Commission.”_

“In one week?” Klaus questioned, “What do they normally do for their job?”

_“What’s worse is Five is still alive,” The Handler continued, “on the loose, and trying to stop the apocalypse. Makes us look like a gang that can’t shoot straight. Now, maybe I’m not seeing the whole picture, but I think, and this, it’s just a suggestion, but I do think, an explanation of sorts is owing.”_

_Hazel kept his gaze on his feet, looking like he was in the principal’s office, while Cha-Cha took the initiative to try explaining, “Five is not working alone. He has backup.”_

“We’re backup!” Klaus cheered, making Ben, unwillingly, high five him.

_“His family.” The Handler scoffed, “You’re saying that you both are no match for a litter of emotionally stunted siblings?”_

“Hey!” Klaus yelled at The Handler on screen, “We know but, hey.”

_Hazel, still keeping his gaze downcasted, tried, “I think what Cha-Cha means is there were certain un-,” glancing at Agnes, “Unexpected consequences from said family that required us to deviate from the original plan.”_

_The Handler laughed at Hazel’s excuse, “You know, we have an old saying at the Commission.” She then said something in Yiddish, which neither the assassins or the Hargreeves could understand, “Of course, neither of you speak Yiddish.” The Handler scoffed at the two, “Fine. I’ll translate. It means ‘The eggs think they’re smarter than the chicken.’ Do what you’re told. Hmm?”_

_“Then we should have killed each other.” Hazel said, looking over at Cha-Cha._

_The Handler looked and sounded confused as she asked, “Come again?”_

_Hazel, hesitantly, explained, “Both of us was sent a message from you to eliminate the other._

_“I never sent-” The Handler started before realization spread across her face, “He’s good. He’s good.”_

Klaus called to his brother on screen from his seat, “You’re busted Five!”

_“Wait, I’m not following.” Cha-Cha said._

Diego scoffed and mocked, “How are these two ‘the best of the best’ if they can’t figure out that ‘He’ is Five?”

“Well,” Five said, “no one ever said they were the brightest, just the best.” Five laughed and continued, “There’s a reason the Commission is constantly having to recruit and replace the worser assassins.”

_“Of course you’re not.” The Hadler scoffed, “I never sent those messages. Five did. They’re fake. To throw you off the scent.”_

_Hazel, possibly hoping for forgiveness, said, “Then you’re not mad at us.”_

_The Handler, not quite acknowledging Hazel’s comment, said, “I’d like to believe that your commitment to your partnership led to a strategic, choice not to kill each other. So, in the spirt of that partnership, I’m giving you a new assignment, one that’s not open to interpretation or discussion.” The Handler placed two guns on the table in front of her and ordered them to “Protect Vanya Hargreeves, at all costs.” with the promise of Hazel being able to retire with Agnes and Cha-Cha to have all incidents or mistakes erased from her record._

“She acts live we were gonna kill Vanya.” Klaus scoffed, getting several looks from his siblings, “What?”

“That was literally the plan Klaus.” Luther deadpanned, “If we couldn’t stop Vanya, which Allison did, then we were going to have to kill her. For the world.”

“Wait, seriously?” Klaus asked, “I thought we weren’t doing that. That’s fucked up Luther. You know that right? She’s our sister.”

Diego, not wanting the senseless rehashing of what would literally be on screen in like twenty minutes to continue, asked, “Weren’t you paying attention Klaus?”

“Not after I was told to be lookout.” Klaus said, shifting a light glare to Luther, “Again.”

_The screen switched to Vanya, back in her apartment, leaving for her concert, having changed into her concert suit and grabbing her violin, still adorned with white eyes and an emotionless expression, switching the lights off as she left. Just outside of her apartment building, as Vanya was walking across a street, a car stopped a few feet away from her, barely not hitting her, honking and yelling at her to “Get out of the way, bitch!” Instead of responding, Vanya, using her powers, blasted the car, flipping it backwards and walked off._

_Jumping again, the screen moved to six of the seven Hargreeves at the bowling alley, trying to figure out their plan of action in regards to their sister. “Look, I hate to be the one to say this,” Luther said, “but everyone needs to prepare.”_

_“For what?” Diego questioned, clearly having an idea of where Luther was going with this._

_“To do whatever it takes to stop Vanya.” Luther continued, earning him a smack on the arm from Allison’s notepad, “We may not have a choice, Allison.” Klaus laughed as Allison smacked Luther with her notepad._

_“Bullshit.” Diego huffed, “There’s always options.”_

_Five questioned him with, “Yeah, like what?”_

_“I don’t know.” Diego muttered._

_“Look,” Luther said, pushing himself out of his seat, “whatever we decide, we need to find Vanya. And fast, okay? She could be anywhere.”_

_Klaus, who had been flipping through the newspaper that he’d taken from Five, showed his siblings the advert for Vanya’s concert. “That’s right.” Diego said, remembering the flyer for the concert that had on Leonard’s fridge, “Her concert is tonight.”_

_While they were trying to figure out what to do and how to stop Vanya, an employee at the bowling alley told them, “I hate to intrude, but my manager says if you’re not gonna bowl, you gotta leave.” the screen flashing to said manager angrily slamming some bowling shoes on the counter._

“Why’d we go to a bowling alley again?” Klaus asked, looking at Luther who was the one who’d said to meet up at the bowling alley.

“I don’t know.” Luther answered, “It was just the first place that came to mind.”

_In response, Luther threw a bowling ball towards the lanes, which bounced a few lanes over and knocked over the pins. Allison then showed Luther a note she’d written on her notepad, ‘SHE’S OUR SISTER’, which Luther replied to with, “We’re the only ones capable of stopping this. We have a responsibility to Dad.”_

“Screw Dad!” Klaus yelled at the screen while _Diego on screen retorted, “To Dad? No, I’ve heard enough about-”_

_Luther, cutting Diego off, said, “He sacrifice everything to bring us back together.”_

_“I’m with Luther on this one.” Five agreed, “We can’t give her a chance to fight back. There are billions of lives at stake. We’re past trying to save just one.” And yet, Five jumped them all back, to the past, to try and not only save said life but fix her and themselves as well._

_Klaus, having been looking at Ben, suggested, “Hey, you know, guys, uh, maybe I could help.”_

_“Now is not the time.” Luther scoffed._

_“No, let him finish.” DIego countered, still thinking that Klaus had been the one to pull him from almost being crushed by rubble as Vanya tore down the Academy, not Ben, “He saved my life today.”_

_“Really?” Ben scoffed, giving Klaus and Diego annoyed looks._

_Luther, sounding surprised, asked, “Is that true?”_

_And Klaus, at first said it was true, before changing to truthfully say that it was Ben that had saved Diego. At his siblings confused, annoyed, and disbelieving faces Klaus said, “Today, listen. Today, he punched me in the face. And earlier at the house, he was the one who saved Diego’s life, not me.”_

_“You are unbelievable, Klaus.” Luther hissed._

_“You want proof, is that it?” Klaus asked, picking up a nearby bowling bowl, as he continued, “All right. I, I’ll give you proof. All right, it’s showtime, baby.” Klaus threw the ball to Ben, who tried to catch it only for the ball to pass through him. Five moved out of the way of the thrown ball and the rest of his siblings just looked annoyed._

_“Is there any way to silence that voice in your head that screams out to be the center of attention?” Luther asked._

“I mean there is,” Klaus answered, “but they aren’t exactly, legal, options. And I’m doing the whole ‘sober’ thing so. I guess, no.”

_Klaus snapped back at Luther, “You know, I liked you a lot better before you got laid.” The other Hargreeves, besides Ben and Klaus, had looks of shock at Klaus’s statement before he amended, “Which was a complete. It, it wasn’t his fault, ‘cause he was ridiculously high, right? And, and the girl, she thought he was a furry,-”_

“Even though we saw it happen,” Diego scoffed, “that still sounds like one of your stupid, drug-induced stories.”

“And it just got worse, and worse for Luther.” Ben added.

_“Stop!” Luther ordered, which Klaus obliged, then switching his attention to a pissed Allison, who stormed away, Luther following after her._

_Right after Allison and Luther left, a woman came over with her son, Kenny, asking if Five wanted to play with some kids his own age, and if that would be alright with his dads, Diego and Klaus. Ben and Klaus didn’t bother holding back any laughter at Five’s annoyed expression on and off screen, as well as Diego’s shocked look on screen._

_After Five then stomped off, thoroughly scaring Kenny and his mother, only to hear the whooshing of one of the Commission’s tubes being delivered. Five hobbled over to where he’d heard the noise, finding the tube in the ball return of another, unused lane. “How the hell did she find me?” Five asked himself, before remembering the candies he’d taken from her office, opening one that was still in his pocket, only to find instead of a candy it was a tracker similar to the one he’d cut out of his arm in the first episode._

“You are getting sloppy in your old age Five.” Klaus remarked with a laugh, this time being able to duck from the pen Five threw at him.

_“She’s good.” Five remarked, before dropping the tracker on the floor and breaking it with his foot before opening the tube, reading the message from a fortune cookie, ‘TIME MARCHES ON… OR DOES IT? Rain Quail, Rm 12’. Five soon after jumped away, presumably to the location the Commission, or The Handler, had sent him._

“Is that stupid tracker the reason those dudes in like, the gas masks, attacked us at the bowling alley?” Diego asked.

“What are you talking about?” Five returned.

“We got attacked,” Allison explained, “by those same guys from the theater, at the bowling alley.”

Klaus, excitedly added, “I threw a cake at one of them!”

_The screen jumped to Hazel and Cha-Cha, sitting in their car. “Alright,” Cha-Cha said, “I’ll be the first one to admit, things really got out of hand. Punches were thrown. Shots were fired. But I’m willing to forgive and forget.”_

_“How very kind of you.” Hazel replied shortly, his voice devoid of emotion._

_“Look,” Cha-Cha continued, “the Handler was right. We had a chance to kill each other. We were ordered to kill each other. And we didn’t. That says something, right? You’re willing to throw away all that goodwill?”_

“Didn’t she try to kill him?” Ben asked, “When he was pretending to be in the shower?” Getting sharp nods from Five and Diego.

_“Doesn’t matter.” Hazel replied, “The Handler’s offer isn’t real.”_

_Cha-Cha disagreed, “Of course it is. Verbal agreements are binding. Check the handbook.”_

_“We’ve caused way too much trouble.” Hazel noted, “You notice something’s missing? We don’t have a briefcase. She’s leaving us to die.”_

_Their bickering ceased when Cha-Cha spotted Vanya getting on a bus, heading to her concert. Once on the bus, another flashback appeared on screen, the day Vanya got her violin. “Your siblings may be on this mission longer than usual.” Their father’s voice said, thirteen year old Vanya nervously approaching him, “So as you wait, be prepared to do your studies alone. Do you understand?” Vanya silently nodded and he dismissed her with a “Very well.”_

_Vanya eyed the violin with trepidation, almost touching it before asking, “My studies this evening pertain to music. I wonder if I could borrow it.”_

_“Take it and go.” their father said, not looking away from his book._

Ben was proud of his sister, for once asking for what she wanted, especially from their asshole of a father, and she got it!

_Vanya, with an excited smile, quickly took the case and walked off with it. The screen then switched to Vanya opening the case upstairs, showing their mother as she remarked, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”_

_“Yes, it is, Vanya.” Their mother agreed._

_“I will learn to play it.” Vanya declared, looking at the violin in adoration. Switching her gaze from the violin to her mother, Vanya said, “I am going to be extraordinary.”_

_The screen showed their father downstairs, smirking, as their mother said, “Put your whole heart into it, dear, and I promise, one day, you will be.”_ Realizing that their father had basically manipulated Vanya into getting her violin, then getting attached to said violin, Ben felt a whole nother wave of anger and hatred towards their father. _Then the screen switched back to 2019, with Vanya on the bus. Hazel and Cha-Cha followed close behind the bus as it left._

_The scene returned to Luther trying to apologize and explain what had happened to an unreceptive Allison. “Listen, we can’t do this right now.” Luther started, “I’m so sorry, I should never have slept with that girl, uh, woman. Uh, look, I had just found out that Dad sent me to the Moon for nothing. All right? And I just felt so lost and alone. Klaus wasn’t lying, I got drunk. I mean, really drunk. Plus the pills. You know, ‘cause it was a rave, and, I’d never been to a rave before, and, well, they’re, they’re pretty amazing, actually-” Allison stopped Luther from putting his foot in his mouth any further, metaphorically of course, by putting her hand over his mouth._

_Allison wrote a quick note on her notepad and showed it to Luther, reading, ‘I NEED YOUR VOICE’ before the screen jumped to Luther and Allison crammed together in a phone booth. Luther called and talked to Claire for Allison, telling her how much he wanted to meet her and how much Allison loved her, and how she missed her and how she was so sorry for letting her down._

As Luther’s on screen message to Claire ended, Allison didn’t bother trying to keep herself from crying, missing her daughter with all her heart all over again.

_The screen switched from Allison crying to Hazel and Cha-Cha, still following the bus as Vanya got off. Cha-Cha unbuckled her seatbelt as Hazel said, “This is where you get off.” before flooring the car, speeding around the block, before smashing into a concrete barrier, Cha-Cha getting thrown from the car, unmoving. Seeing Cha-Cha not moving, Hazel drove off._

_Jumping back to the bowling alley, Luther and Allison return to Klaus, Diego, and Ben, only to learn that Five has ditched them. Diego asked Luther what the plan was, which Luther replied was, “Well, I think that, uh, we go to the Icarus Theater.”_

_“That’s a location, not a plan.” Diego said, “What? Is that all you got? Look, you wanna be Number One, fine, but you’re gonna have to get us on the same page, because right now, we’re all over the place.”_

_“You’re right.” Luther agreed, “We need a plan.”_

“It truly must be the end of the world if Luther and Diego are agreeing on shit!” Klaus shouted, getting glares from every sibling present.

_Soon after, the strike force that Diego had mentioned earlier marched into the bowling alley and opened fire on the Hargreeves. As the strike force fired at them, Diego asked them “Who the hell are these guys?”_

_“Maybe they're here for Kenny’s birthday!” Klaus suggested, covering his ears from the gunfire._

_As more bullets rained down around them, tearing apart the racks they were hiding behind, Luther yelled back, “No, I’m pretty sure they’re here for us!” Diego popped up from behind the rack and threw a knife at one of the guys, taking them down. As the soldier fell, they knocked into the sound and lighting system. The party light turned on as the song Saturday Night played over the speakers and the strike force reopened fire on the Hargreeves._

_Luther threw a few bowling ball at some of the soldiers, taking them out as well as Diego continued throwing his knives, Allison and Klaus still hiding behind the racks. Klaus pulled the aforementioned cake from a nearby counter and threw it at one of the soldiers._

_As Luther, Diego and Klaus tried to figure out how to get out of the bowling alley, the soldiers blocking the exit, Allison pointed Klaus and Luther at the lanes, which was how they ran out of the bowling alley, or more like slid out, escaping the soldiers._

“It’s a good thing we had Allison,” Klaus whispered to Ben, “otherwise we’d all be dead.” Klaus winced before muttering a quick “Sorry.” to Ben.

_The scene rejoined Five as he approached the motel room on the fortune he’d received. “Five,” The Handler called from in the room, “I’ve been waiting for you.”_

_As Five entered the room, spotting The Handler and Agnes, still bound and gagged, instantly. “You must really like doughnuts.” Five remarked, looking at Agnes._

_Agnes pleaded for help, which was ignored, as The Handler said, “It’s been a while.”_

_“Three days.” Five said._

_“For you, maybe.” The Handler remarked, “But for me, it’s been a lot longer since I’ve seen those adorable little shorts.”_

“Ugh, she is so creepy.” Allison whined, a disgusted and uncomfortable look on her face.

_Five took a few steps closer to The Handler as he replied, “Well, you’ve had time to heal.”_

_The Handler stood from the bed she’d been sitting on, moving towards their brother, saying, “Luckily, for both of us, time, is the one thing my organization has an abundance of.”_

_“Got your message, by the way.” Five said, pulling said message from his pocket, “Nice packaging, but so much for Commission protocol.”_

_“There have been,” The Handler said, moving to stand right next to Five, “a lot of changes since you left the Commission. You really did some damage.” The Handler, creepily, ran her hand along Five’s cheek, “The briefcases were all but destroyed, to say nothing of the, highly trained personnel you killed. After all, what is an institution if not for-”_

“What’s the point of this whole meeting?” Diego asked, “It seems like she’s just trying to keep you busy.”

_“What do you want?” Five asked, cutting off The Handler’s stupid speech._

_The Handler replied, “To be happy. To have a simple, unfettered life, to, do the work my superiors require. But, your being here, well, it complicates all that.”_

_“Billions of people are about to die tonight.” Five bit, “You can change that.”_

_“Tonight, tomorrow.” The Handler replied flippantly, “So little difference in the scheme of things.-”_

“God this is going on forever!” Klaus whined, flopping over in his chair, “Is this why you were gone so long Five?” Instead of getting any form of reaction from Five, their brother just stared at the screen, namely The Handler, with a scowl.

_“-Don’t you remember the Commission’s raison d’être?” The Handler asked, “What’s meant to be is meant to be, or, as I like to say, que será, será.”_

_Five hissed at her, “It’s bullshit in any language. Why did you call me here?”_

_The Handler had an unnerving calm in her voice as she said, “I wanna offer you a choice. Everyone’s going to die tonight, but, unlike the rest of the world, you have a way out. You can abandon your family and skip ahead to the apocalypse, take a walkabout for a few decades, wondering if I’ll come back and offer you a job again, or you can stay here, with your family, and, die a horrible death.” The Handler laughed at Five’s dilemma as she opened a bottle of champagne from the room, “While you weigh your options, just know your siblings are fighting for their lives without you.”_

_“You brought me here to pull me away.” Five said in realization._

“That’s what Diego said!” Klaus shouted.

_Five jumped away as The Handler remarked, “It’s been nice knowing you, Five.”_

_Back at the Icarus Theater, the concert is just beginning to start, showcasing Vanya with her opening solo, once again showing off how talented their sister was. Soon after the rest of the orchestra joined their sister, The Hargreeves, minus Five, arrive at the theater to stop Vanya._

_Allison stepped in front of Luther, stopping him, showing him her note ‘I NEED TO GO ALONE’. “Allison, I can’t let you do that, all right?” Luther sighed, “She’s beyond reasoning.”_

“Did you even try?” Five scoffed.

Luther tried to defend himself before Klaus popped out a loud “Nope!”

_“You hear the music?” Diego yelled at Allison and Luther, “It’s started.”_

_“Do you honestly think she’s gonna listen? After everything that’s happened?” Luther asked Allison._

_Klaus muttered, “We don’t have time for this.”_

_“Okay.” Luther decided, Allison quickly ran into the theater, hoping to be able to reason with her sister while her brothers stayed in the lobby._

“You have to realize Luther’s using you as a distraction,” Five told Allison, “right?” Glancing over at his sister, Five saw the glare she was leveling to the back of Luther’s head, so, she definitely knew.

_As soon as Allison was gone, Diego asked Luther, “You’re using her as a distraction, aren’t you?”_

_“It’ll be our best chance to incapacitate Vanya.-” Luther started._

“Well, at least you said incapacitate our sister and not kill her.” Klaus mocked, annoyed that he was about to be put on lookout, again, on screen.

_“-She’ll thank us later.” Luther finished._

“Which one?” Five asked Luther, “Allison or Vanya?” Luther didn’t reply, just looked briefly over at Allison, who was still glaring at him, before sheepishly returning his eyes to the screen.

_As Luther, Diego, and Klaus started to walk into the theater, Ben staying in the lobby, Klaus asked, “So, what’s the plan?”_

_“Uh,” Luther replied, “you wait out front.”_

_“What?” Klaus asked, hurt and confused._

_Luther repeated, “Yeah, you’re the lookout.”, him and Diego continuing into the theater as Klaus and Ben remained in the lobby._

_The screen jumped back to the motel, the shower running, steaming up the room and bathroom, just as Hazel returned, gun drawn. As Hazel entered the room, The Handler exited the bathroom, and upon seeing Hazel, The Handler asked, “Back so soon?”_

Five was seriously wondering, and hoping, that Hazel wouldn’t chicken out of getting even the littlest bit of revenge on their former employer. But knowing Hazel, that wasn’t likely to happen.

_Hazel kept his gun trained on The Handler as she walked carelessly around the motel room as she said, “And here I thought you were the smart one. How disappointing.” And anything else she was going to say was cut off by Hazel shooting her in the forehead, killing at least that version of The Handler._

Five had to admit, Hazel had more balls than he ever thought he did.

_Hazel freed Agnes from her chair, and the two took The Handler’s briefcase before the screen rejoined Allison at the Icarus Theater as she approached the stage._

_Unbeknownst to her, Luther and Diego were waiting in the wings. Allison watched Vanya play with sad smile, and seeming to sense her sister’s gaze, Vanya looked over to Allison and smiled back at her._

Klaus, knowing his brothers had the worse timing whined, “Don’t tell me you guys fucked up everything.”

_Soon after, Diego and Luther stormed the stage, only to be blasted away by Vanya. Vanya then looked back at Allison in betrayal, believing her sister had knowingly been a part of the plan._

“Goddamnit you guy.” Klaus hissed at his brothers, who ignored him.

_The orchestra on stage tried to flee as did the crowd, but Vanya kept them on stage, using their playing to feed into her powers. Luther and Diego, somewhat, helped push the crowd out of the theater while Allison made her way over to them and Vanya sent another angered blast of power at her brothers._

_Meanwhile, outside the theater, the strike force was back and had stronger reinforcements. Klaus and Ben, no where to be seen._

“Where the hell were you?” Luther asked.

“Um,” Klaus answered, “in the bathroom?” Ben gave him a look, and Klaus admitted, “Getting a burrito.”

_As Diego, Luther, and Allison hid behind the rows of seat from their sister, Diego remarked, “She’s stronger than expected.”_

_“Yeah.” Luther agreed, then Allison threw an abandoned shoe at Luther, glaring at him on screen much like she was at the moment. “Yeah. We’re fine, thanks for asking.” And at the look Allison gave him Luther added, “Look, I almost lost you once, all right? I wasn’t about to lose you again.”_

_“Well, so much for the element of surprise.” Diego muttered, ignoring whatever was going on between Luther and Allison, “What else you got?” While Luther was trying to think, Allison knocked on the seats in front of her, getting her brother’s attention then mimicked the violin. “No shit, Allison.” Diego hissed at her, “Tell us something we don’t already know.”_

_“She’s talking about the violin.” Luther said, “It’s her lighting rod. If we can take it from her, and stop her from playing, we might have a shot.” Just then, the strike force entered the theater, shooting at the Hargreeves, scaring the orchestra and conductor off the stage._

_As bullets rained down on Allison, Luther, and Diego, the brothers yelling to each other about Klaus’s lack of warning, Five jumped into the theater in the midst of the gunfire and immediately took cover. Meanwhile outside Ben hears the gunfire in the theater while Klaus complained about having cilantro on his burrito._

“Klaus-” Diego started, looking annoyed and a bit disappointed.

“I know. I know. I messed up.” Klaus said, “But I’ve already explained it. So, moving on!” Klaus waved his arms at the screen and ignored any and all looks he was getting from his siblings. Disappointed, annoyed, or otherwise.

_Ben and Klaus move to investigate the noise, and find an injured, limping Cha-Cha heading towards the theater. “This is it, mofo. Go time! Go time!” Klaus told Ben as he started to run into the theater._

_“What about the gunfire?” Ben asked, running in behind Klaus._

_Ignoring Ben, Klaus continued to run to the theater, saying, “Come on, man, we’re the damn lookouts!”_

_Back in the theater, Luther yelled to Five, “Five, what the, I thought you bailed on us!”_

_“I had an errand to run.” Five excused. As the gunfire continued, and became heavier, Five remarked, “This is not good.”_

_“You know these guys?” Diego asked._

_“Yeah, I do.” Five replied._

_“And?” Diego asked, annoyed._

_Five, oh so helpfully, replied, “Well, we’re screwed.”_

“Ah, but we are not!” Klaus cheered, throwing an arm around Ben’s shoulders, “Because we have dear Benny boy here to save the day!”

_As the strike force began to close in on the Hargreeves, Klaus and Ben ran into the theater, Klaus shouting, “Guys, it’s Cha-Cha!”, drawing the gunfire towards himself, causing him to need to take cover as well._

“Klaus.” Allison started.

“Yes Allison dear.” Klaus answered.

Allison asked, “You know I love you right?” This probably wasn’t going to be good.

“Yes Allison.” Klaus answered “But?”

“But,” Allison started, pointing at the screen, “you were being an idiot.”

Five added, “A fucking idiot!”

Klaus huffed, folding his arms, and muttered a “Rude!” while rolling his eyes.

_Five jumps, landing on one of the soldiers backs, causing them to shoot two other soldiers. Suddenly, Klaus’s hands began to glow blue, and soon, Ben’s ghost was seen, his tentacles unleashed from his ghostly chest, killing the remaining members of the strike force._

_Cha-Cha walked on stage, looking into the seats and Diego, now without the risk of being filled with bullet holes, charged towards her. The two began to fight, moving backstage, and eventually, Diego got the upperhand, pining Cha-Cha to a bar, readying himself to stab Cha-Cha before remembering his talk with Five about avenging Eudora._

_Deciding against stabbing Cha-Cha, instead letting her go, Diego returns to his siblings as on stage Vanya’s powers, somehow, change her suit and violin to white, the building, much like the Academy, began to crumble around them._

_“Oh, welcome back.” Luther snarked as Diego rejoined them, “Where were you?”_

_“Honoring a memory.” Diego hissed back, “So, how do you wanna end this thing?”_

_Luther decided, “We surround her. All right? We come at her from all angles.”_

_“So it’s a suicide mission.” Klaus sighed._

_“Yeah,” Five agreed, “but one of us could get through. It’s the only chance we’ve got.”_

_“Are we all in?” Luther asked, getting various “yeses” and nods from his brothers. “Allison?” Luther asked, getting a headshake ‘no’ from Allison. Ignoring Allison’s input, Luther told Diego to go stage left, he’d go stage right, and Klaus and Five to take the front._

“Anyone else wonder what would’ve happened if we’d just let Vanya play at her concert?” Klaus asked. And ignoring any looks he may have gotten from his siblings, he continued, “Like she seemed perfectly fine playing before we got there and fucked everything up for her.”

_As their brothers moved into their instructed position, Allison wordlessly tried to convince Luther to take another approach, opposed to her brothers killing her sister. “I’m sorry.” Luther told her, “There’s no time, Allison. If she finished this concert, the world goes up in flames.”_

“That’s why Klaus.” Luther said.

“I mean, it did happen.” Klaus admitted, “But that was because she blew up the moon, not because she played her violin.”

_Luther left Allison standing in the seats, taking his own position. Once the four brothers were readied, Luther yelled “Now!” and the four charged at Vanya, only to be stopped by a stroke from her bow and they were suspended in the air by beams of white light._

_It looked as though the white light was draining the brothers of their energy._ Needless to say Luther, Klaus, Five, and Diego looked quite uncomfortable watching their past selves be sucked of energy. _Behind Vanya, Allison approached their sister nearly silently, gun in hand. Allison levels the gun behind Vanya’s head, nearly crying, readying herself to pull the trigger, but at the last moment, she moves the gun to be next to Vanya’s head and fires._

_The brothers are released from the white beams as Vanya blasts a similar beam of white light through the glass ceiling of the theater and collapses, caught then cradled by Allison. The screen followed the beam into blasting through the moon, breaking into pieces._

_Once recovered well enough, the brothers scrambled onto the stage, checking on their sisters. “Is she alive?” Luther asked, which Allison tearfully nodded and managed to whisper “Yeah.” in response to, holding tightly to Vanya._

_For a moment the Hargreeves thought they’d stopped the apocalypse, until Klaus noticed some of the moon pieces were headed their way. They were resigned to die, failing as The Umbrella Academy to save the world but, at least they’d be together in the end._

_Luckily for them, Five said, “This doesn’t have to be the end. I think I have a way outta here. But you gotta trust me on this.” Diego, Luther, and Klaus gave him various degrees of “no” before Five continued, “Well, then, we might as well accept our fate, because in less than a minute, we’re gonna be vaporized.” Diego asked Five what his idea was, which Five answered was, “We use my ability to time travel. But this time, I’ll take you with me.”_

_“You can do that?” Diego asked._

_“I don’t know.” Five answered truthfully, “I’ve never tried it before.” Diego asked what was the worst that could happen, Five replied “You’re looking at it. A 58-year-old man inside a child’s body, so there’s that.”_

“Yeah!” Klaus cheered, “Now we’ve got five, maybe six, still up in the air on that last one, 29-year-olds in 12-year-old bodies and a 58-year-old man in a 12-year-old body.”

_Diego agreed, then Klaus, then Luther, who in turn asked Allison who also said agreed, then asked Klaus about Ben, who was also in. “Okay, great.” Five said, “Luther, grab Vanya.”_

_Luther picked up their sister as he asked, “Wait, should we be taking her? I mean, if she’s the cause of the apocalypse. Isn’t that like taking the bomb with us?”_

_“The apocalypse will always happen,” Five answered, “and Vanya will always be the cause, unless we take her with us and fix her.” The siblings joined hands in a little circle as more and more of the planet went up in flames, Five’s powers beginning to create a vortex above them, the air whipping around them._

_The screen flashed to Agnes and Hazel using their stolen briefcase to escape the impending doom, then to Sergeant Dale Cheddar reading a magazine and eating a doughnut before being incinerated, then back to the Hargreeves switching into their 12 year old bodies as Five yelled “Hold on! It’s gonna get messy!” before the screen moved to Beeman opening the package with Hazel and Cha-Cha’s guns right before he too is incinerated, moving to just outside the theater, Cha-Cha is shown trying to use a payphone before being incinerated by the wall of fire._

_Finally returning once again to the siblings, Five manages to jump them away just before the fire reaches them then the screen went black. The text “The End of Episode Ten of Ten: The White Violin”_ followed by the VHS player spitting the tape out.

The siblings sat in silence for a bit before Allison asked, “What do we do now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you think in the comments! Thank you for so much reading, and leaving kudos and comments throughout!
> 
> The conclusion will, hopefully, be up around Tuesday or Wednesday. Any extra scenes will get posted separately, likely in a series, and after the conclusion gets finished.
> 
> I didn't include as much commentary in this episode as some of the previous ones because they all knew what happened for the most part since they were there when it happened.
> 
> Like always, please let me know if there are any glaring mistakes.


	12. Don't Fuck This Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that The Umbrella Academy has finished the first season, what's next?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I finished this earlier than I expected to so... enjoy!

“Well Five?” Luther asked, “What’s the plan?”

Five scoffed, rolled his eyes and muttered, “It should be fairly obvious by now, but I think you’ve all proven yourselves to be idiots, so I’ll spell it out for you.” Five jumped from his seat to standing in front off the, now turned off, tv before continuing, “The first thing we need to do is get Vanya to realize she has powers. Regardless of if she does or doesn’t remember the future, Vanya learning how to control her powers is key to stopping the apocalypse for good.-”

“And how would we do that?” Klaus asked, “You know without the whole ‘moon-exploding’ thing.” As Klaus spoke he mimicked the moon exploding, hypothetically, with his hands. 

“Allison could just rumor her?” Diego suggested, “Or unrumor her?”

Ben asked Allison, “Can you even unrumor someone?”

“I don’t know.” Allison replied sheepishly before becoming quite defensive, “I’ve never tried. And I’ve already said I’m not rumoring Vanya, or anyone else, like that ever again.”

“Rumoring Vanya isn’t the answer to this, you idiots.” Five hissed at them, god he was surrounded by idiots, “One of us needs to convince her that she isn’t ordinary and that she does have powers. And I, for one, think Allison should do it.”

Allison, surprised, asked, “What? Why me? You’re her best friend.”

“Vanya said you two are having a sleepover or some shit tonight. Correct?” Five asked, and when Allison nodded he continued, “Well then, you two will be alone, in a calm, secluded environment, with no nosey brothers.” Five sent Klaus a pointed look at that, “It’ll be the perfect time to talk to her.”

Diego asked skeptically, “And what happens when this, inevitably, blows up in our face like everything else does?”

“Then the rest of us can help Allison, but not all at once, or Vanya will probably think we’re just making fun of her.” Five waited for any further questions from his siblings before continuing, “Once that is settled, the next thing we need to do is find a way to make Reginald have Vanya be a part of The Umbrella Academy. Since dad seems to understand Vanya’s powers enough to attempt training her when she was four, actually training Vanya to control her powers rather than just locking them away ” Five said before quickly adding, looking between Diego and Klaus “No, we aren’t rumoring dad. So don’t even say it.”

Luther, seeming to genuinely lead and help his siblings, asked, “How do we do that Five? Without having Allison rumor anyone?”

Five moved to answer when Ben cut in, “What about just telling Dad we know Vanya has powers? No more lying, just half-truths, to Dad and Pogo at least.”

“Anyone opposed?” Five asked, looking between his siblings, nothing, good. “Once we ensure that Vanya is going to be trained as part of The Umbrella Academy, I’m fairly certain that it’ll be safe to return to 2019. The day after Reginald’s shit funeral. And then we can ‘get rid of’ Harold Jenkins before he evers fucks with Vanya.”

“Really?” Luther asked.

Diego scoffed, “Seriously?”

“There’s no way it can be that simple.” Allison was hesitant to believe that stopping the apocalypse would only take two, pretty big, things.

“What about Ben?” Klaus asked, “How do we make sure he doesn’t die?”

Ben sighed and started, “Klaus it’s-”

“It’s not fine Ben!” Klaus yelled, pointing accusing fingers at the other four siblings in the room as he yelled, “They don’t know how much it sucks to have to see your dead brother every fucking day! When you shouldn't've died in the first place! Not as young or as violently as you did! It’s not fair!”

“Klaus, calm down.” Ben said, trying to pull Klaus back in the seat he’d jumped out of in the midst of his declaration.

“No!” Klaus yelled, pulling his arm from his brother’s grasp, “I won’t calm down Benjamin! I don’t want to leave your life to chance! I don’t want to go back to 2019, and find you still dead!”

Five, rather than jumping, carefully and cautiously stepped towards Klaus, “Klaus, if we get back to 2019, and Ben is still dead, I will come back, on my own, and make sure Ben doesn’t die. Alright?” Klaus nodded, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down at Ben and Diego’s instruction.

Before any further fights, questions, or breakdowns could occur there was a knock at the door of the office. Luther, being the nearest to the door, opened it and revealed their mother standing behind it, holding a small package in one of her hands. “Hello children, I hope the training your father sent you has been going well. Your father has sent another package for you children, you all can open it after you finish your dinner. Dinner will be ready shortly.” And with that, their mother left.

“It’s not actually from Dad, is it?” Luther asked.

“I have a pretty good feeling, it’s from whoever ‘H’ is.” Five agreed. God, this was never going to end was it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic has, finally, come to an end, like six months later (holy shit). I hope you've enjoyed it! Please let me know what you thought.
> 
> For the extra scenes, I'm planning to do a reaction to the TUA 2 trailer first, but after that, there are a few scenes I already have planned. I'm going to have you guys pick which one(s) I'll do first. The ones I have right now are: Allison & Vanya sleepover, Lunch after Allison, Klaus, & Vanya left, Klave reunion, Five & Vanya during 2nd break, Allison & Luther during 2nd break, Five talking to Ben about things (mentioned in episode nine), and Allison & Luther 'talk' about actions in season 1.
> 
> If you guys have any more ideas for additional scene let me know!
> 
> Right now I'm not sure if I'll do season 2 or not yet, since I'm supposed to be going to college in less than a month and will be super busy for a while.
> 
> My next fic/series that I have planned for TUA is a college/parent AU.
> 
> Sorry for the long note. Thank you guys again so much for reading. Until next time!


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